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\nthe Dog Unit, whose names will be chosen by chronically ill children.
\nThe five German Shepherd pups \u2013 three females and two males \u2013 were born on Christmas Eve last year (Monday 24 December 2018) and will be trained as General Purpose dogs.
\nDog Unit Commander, Superintendent Steve Egginton, said the puppies are a welcome addition to the NSW Police Force.
\n\u201cSince 2004, our breeding program has seen 34 litters of German Shepherd pups join the ranks of the Dog Unit, and these five new recruits have just started their journey in the pack,\u201d Supt Egginton said.
\n\u201cKeeping with canine recruit tradition, these puppies will be given names starting with the letter \u2018Z\u2019 and will form part of the \u2018Z\u2019 litter.
\n\u201cWe are encouraging everyone to help suggest names for the dogs before they start sniffing out crime,\u201d Supt Egginton said added.
\nPatron of the NSW Police Dog Unit, Mrs Andrea Fuller, said the naming process has proven to be an excellent way to engage with the community and allow members of the public to take part.
\n\u201cThis year, we are delighted to be working with Sydney Children\u2019s Hospital, Randwick to give some of the children in their care a chance to help choose the names of our new crime-fighting canines,\u201d Mrs Fuller said.
\n\u201cA list of suggested names will be provided to the hospital, then the children will research the names and hold a vote, with the most popular names chosen.
\n\u201cThe pups will then be assigned a name and taken to the hospital, so the children have a chance to meet them,\u201d Mrs Fuller said.
\nDirector of Nursing at Sydney Children\u2019s Hospital, Randwick, Ms Verity Luckey says the patients of Sydney Children\u2019s Hospital, Randwick are thrilled to join forces with the NSW Police Force Dog Unit.
\n\u201cThe children are armed and ready to help to with the im-paw-tant job of naming the newest recruits, and also really looking forward to shaking paws with our new furry-friends when they are old enough to stop by for a visit,\u201d Ms Luckey said.
\nPolice Minister Troy Grant welcomed the puppy naming partnership with Sydney Children\u2019s Hospital, Randwick.
\n\u201cThis is a great way for the children to engage with the Dog Unit, which does some of the most extraordinary behind-the-scenes work helping to solve crime in our community,\u201d Mr Grant said.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s also a fantastic opportunity for the unit to bring a little cheer to the kids at the Sydney Children\u2019s Hospital at Randwick. This is an incredibly worthy initiative that we\u2019re proud to be a part of, and I look forward to hearing the names suggested for our latest four-legged crime fighters,\u201d he added.
\nThe five pups will stay at the Dog Unit until they are about 12 weeks old and will then be placed into the foster carer program until they are old enough to begin training.
\nThe NSW Police Force Dog Unit was formed in 1932 and currently forms part of the NSW Police Force Police Transport and Public Safety Command.
\nIt is the largest police dog unit in Australia and its canine police officers include German Shepherds, Belgian Malinois, Dutch Shepherds, Labradors, Border Collies and English Springer Spaniels.
\nThe Dog Unit\u2019s breeding program has been running since 2004, and has bred 34 litters of German Shepherd pups, two litters of Labrador pups and two litters of English Springer Spaniels and one litter of Belgian Malinois.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"