Category: News and Events

As One Canine Career Comes to an End Another Begins Celebrating Fearless Force Members – PDs Zeus and Koa

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Our intrepid Police Dogs are highly respected members of our Constabulary, and sadly we will soon be saying goodbye to one of our most exceptional colleagues, PD Zeus.

The 10-year-old Dutch Herder is due to retire, making way for the young ones as we welcome new recruit PD Koa.

Zeus is the oldest General Purpose dog on the department. A police dog for seven years, he is also a Tactical Firearms Support Dog. As part of his TFSD role Zeus has helped protect lots of VIPs, including members of the Royal Family. Everyone knows when Zeus is on duty as he’s so vocal you can hear him barking in the van from half a mile away.


Throughout his career PD Zeus has helped arrest numerous baddies and locate stolen property and discarded weapons. This year he assisted in tracing a missing women so she could get the help and treatment she needed, and his proudest moment whilst working with his firearms colleagues was being instrumental in the arrest of two murder suspects.

Now ready to put his paws up, Zeus will continue to live with his handler during retirement following his valiant work helping to keep Lancashire’s public safe.


Snapping at his heels is PD Koa, a Malinois Cross Herder. Koa has had a cracking start to his career, aiding in numerous arrests across Lancashire, including one which involved taking his handler along the muddiest track we’ve ever seen in hot pursuit of a suspect. He is certainly one brave, bold dog. Nothing fazes him whatsoever. He can be snoring in the van one minute and up raring to go as soon as the van stops. Koa is clearly following courageously in Zeus’s footsteps.


It’s no wonder a career as a Police Dog Hander is so sought after. Apart from having the honour of living and working with incredible dogs like Zeus and Koa, the training is second to none.

Our Dog Training Unit at Lancashire Constabulary’s Hutton HQ is known not only throughout the country but globally, thanks to its world-class courses.


Do you have what it takes to be a Police Dog Handler?

Find out more here:

https://www.lancashire.police.uk/about-us/our-organisation/dog-unit/#:~:text=Lancashire%20Police%20Dog%20Training%20Unit%20is%20known%20not,but%20globally%2C%20thanks%20to%20its%20world-class%20training%20courses

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‘Police Now’ – National Graduate Scheme

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We are delighted to say that 23 officers have so far chosen to join us through Police Now’s national graduate scheme to go straight into neighbourhood policing.

One of them is PC Charles McCarthy, who applied after originally embarking on a career in accounting and finance gained at Liverpool John Moores University.

“I had never really considered being a police officer until last year, although I had been told I would make a good one by my mother and my sister-in-law, who is also an officer,” he said. “Often while working, the radio would be on and there would be alarming incident reports mentioned, and this is what convinced me to join the police, to help make a difference.”

Away from work, Charles, an avid Evertonian, can usually be found at the gym with his partner. He enjoys a variety of sports, with his biggest love being Mixed Martial Arts.

Having trained and competed aged 12 to 21, Charles was President/Captain of the LJMU MMA Society at Uni, leading the team to become one of the most successful University MMA teams in the country. With his energy now focused on neighbourhood policing, Charles, 25, is excited be out in division serving the communities of West Lancashire.

He said: “My wish is that when my head hits the pillow, I have a sense of accomplishment by contributing to society and perhaps improving a person’s life. I am certain that being a PC will not only be a life-changing career and make me very happy, but also improve me as an individual.”

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New Recruits Making Lancashire Constabulary a Force to be Reckoned With

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In response to the Home Office call for national forces to recruit 20,000 police officers by March 2023, we’ve been busy assembling our ranks with the county’s finest. Our campaigns to attract high calibre student officers to our new entry programmes have been a huge success.

The county’s new processes to becoming a fully-fledged officer are the Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship (PCDA) and the Degree Holder Entry Programme (DHEP). Both are based on curricula from the College of Policing’s new PEQF Framework for the national Policing Vision 2025 and combine study with patrol work.

Due to the increasing demand for investigative support, we are also introducing a dedicated detective pathway under the DHEP – a two-year programme which combines working as a police officer with a development and training programme to become a fully qualified detective (PIP 2 Investigator). This has generated enormous interest for job alerts and open days. For our homegrown courses we are extremely proud to be partnering UCLan – one of the first universities in the country to offer the new PCDA. Our debut intake of 35 apprentices underwent intensive training to be signed off fit for independent patrol in October 2020.

Following hot on the apprentices’ heels were our first waves of around 170 DHEP recruits last year, with a third cohort of at least 80 to begin in February 2021. These rigorous programmes are ensuring that, once fully trained, officers will be well qualified, both academically and operationally, to work within the modern policing environment.

Vitally, they also provide pathways for people from all walks of life, in line with our dedication to building a force that reflects the communities we serve.

At the end of the programmes recruits choose to specialise in one of the five core areas of policing: immediate response, community, road, Intel or investigation. Degree holders can also apply via Police Now’s national graduate scheme to go straight into neighbourhood policing.

So far 23 officers have chosen to join us through their scheme this year, undergoing intensive training so they can quickly work independently in the community.

All of these routes into Lancashire Police had a fantastic response in 2020 – 4,040 potential candidates expressed an interest in joining our force, nearly 2,400 signed up for our PC job alerts, and we welcomed close to a hundred transferees. We continue to seek first-class candidates who are passionate about policing.

If you, or anyone you know, is interested in pursuing a career as an officer, you can find out about the full eligibility requirements here.

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