Dog search team hails new start
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‘A BRILLIANT new start." That was how the chairwoman of a Caithness search group hailed the signing of a memorandum of understanding with Northern Constabulary on Tuesday.
Val Ashpool said that she hoped the pact would allow Caithness and Sutherland Search Team and the police to put aside past differences which had prevented the dogs and their handlers helping in operations locally to find missing persons.
"The memorandum sets out exactly what both of us expect and know of each other. It just finalises and draws a line under the past and gives us a new start," said Mrs Ashpool.
"We train in the hope that we never have to be used but if we do get called in to help we both know how each other works now."
Wick-based Chief Inspector Matthew Reiss said the idea behind the agreement is a very simple one.
"If we get an incident where there is someone, or a group of people, missing then the Caithness and Sutherland Search Team dogs, which are trained to a certain level, can be used to assist us, including backing up our own dog section and the other statutory agencies we use," he said.
"The thing about Caithness and Sutherland is that they certainly attract their fair share of missing persons, and a lot of them have travelled up from the south.
"The force covers a landmass a sixth the size of the whole UK and geographically this is the largest police area of command in the country, with a very scattered population and a lot of challenging terrain.
"The force relies on help from a huge variety of different agencies, the coastguard, the RNLI, the Search and Rescue Dog Association and now CASST."
The chief inspector said that the main issue with using the search group in the past had been knowing whether the handlers and dogs were sufficiently trained to work with the police.
Around 15 months ago Thurso councillor Donnie Mackay and Landward’s Willie Mackay agreed to help the group become recognised by Northern Constabulary.
The councillors worked with Chief Inspector Reiss and the then divisional commander, Superintendent Julian Innes, to bring about assurances that CASST could not only be useful to the police but that they would be suitably trained to be so.
"Fifteen months ago when CASST approached me to help them I was absolutely delighted to take it on," said Willie Mackay.
"I was even more impressed by the professional approach of Matthew Reiss and Superintendant Julian Innes who helped tick the boxes.
"Here we are 15 months down the line at the signing of this document."
Similarly pleased was Donnie Mackay, who said: "I’m delighted that we have a local team that can go if the police need them at short notice.
"I’m over the moon that we have a search team right on our doorstep."
Sergeant Niall Mac-lean, of the force’s dog section, said it was good to see that the Northern Division is continuing to source new assets from the voluntary sector and is committed to using them when the situation merits their deployment.
"I know that there is already the Search and Rescue Dog Association but their remit is more mountains – although they will still be used for lowland searches as well," he said.
"It’s not an us and them situation. It’s very much just another tool in our box for finding vulnerable missing persons."
CASST was set up in 2003 and over the years has assisted in a number of emergencies, including the Stockline disaster in Glasgow in 2004 when it helped with the search in the aftermath of a factory explosion.
