Victoria Police inducted two new furry police officers in a special ceremony Tuesday afternoon.
Two German shepherds, Havoc and Zender have completed their General Duty Canine Course and received their police badges at the ceremony.
VicPD spokesperson Bowen Osoko said the dogs have already been out on patrol.
“They’re already out on the street, this is sort of their semi-official badging ceremony,” Osoko said. “This is where they’ve graduated their ceremony in full. They graduated in full in June, but we give them a little bit of time to run through some trials and do some additional training.”
The police chief tweeted he's proud of VicPd's K9 Unit and the dedication and commitment shown by their handlers.
Osoko said the police dogs will be making an appearance at a park renaming ceremony.
Victoria council has voted to rename a dog park in the area after police dog Chase, who died after jumping over a fence and landing on a sprinkler head in 1994.
Osoko said they also changed police dog uniforms following that incident.
“Our dogs are now wearing new vests and harnesses,” Osoko said. “These are stab and puncture resistant vests to help prevent those injuries to our dogs.”
Osoko said the vests are to increase safety for police dogs.
“We wouldn’t ask our animal partners to do things we wouldn’t ask our human people to do,” Osoko said.
Victoria council discussed the proposal to have a dog park named after Chase, and plan to choose a specific park later in the year.