Police dog trainer retires after decades of dedication

After a profession in policing spanning four decades, alongside the force’s furry four-legged recruits, Leicestershire’s most experienced dog trainer is retiring.

For the last 34 years Leigh Emerson has been committed to working with countless crime-fighting canines – not a career to sniff at considering as a child he was allergic to dogs.

Luckily for Leigh and Leicestershire Police, by the age of 14 he had grown out of the allergy and his passion for pooches really began to progress.

After three years as an officer in a different police force, Leigh transferred to Leicestershire in 1987 with his sights firmly set on becoming a dog handler.

In 1989 this dream became a reality and 10 years later he also became a qualified police dog trainer – working with handlers and their dogs to master the vital skills needed to track offenders, locate evidence, find missing people and protect officers in potentially dangerous situations. As well as providing specialist training for dogs whose expertise include finding drugs, cash and explosives.

For the next 15 years, until he retired from operational duty in 2014, Leigh combined the two roles – being paired with a total of six police dogs during his career, while also helping to train the next generation of paw-fect policing partners.

Of the four German Shepherds Leigh was teamed with, three were honoured alongside him in the force’s annual Chief Constable’s Commendations – two of the awards were for acts of bravery and the other for saving the life of a woman attempting suicide.

Chief Constable Commendation winners: Leigh pictured with PD Kruger in 1996, PD Tango in 2003 and PD Jess in 2012

The fourth dog competed against some of the best police dogs in the region in a series of trials for agility, searching and obedience as part of a yearly contest.

During his 25-year career as a dog handler, Leigh has lost count of the number of call-outs he and his dogs attended but what he has never forgotten is the feeling it gave him.

And so, when the time came for Leigh to hang up his lead as a serving officer, working in the dog unit as a member of staff, was the next best thing.

 “The adrenalin rush each job gave me is something I will never forget,” said Leigh.

“Seeing the change in your dog’s body language to indicate they are close to find something used to make the hair on the back of my neck stand up. I still experience this when I see a dog I have been training start to show this shift as they hone in on a scent.   

“As a handler, locating criminals who might have otherwise escaped arrest was a passion, finding a missing person was so rewarding and providing community reassurance during public order incidents was hugely important. I also loved any opportunity to talk about and demonstrate the incredible quality and skills of our dogs so I really enjoyed doing public displays, talks and visits to local schools.

“As a trainer it has been a great responsibility but huge privilege to produce dogs and handlers that are such a vital resource for the force. When I see those I have trained being operationally successful - it is the next best thing to being out there myself.”

Training one of the force's newest police dogs - PD Reggie 

It was less than a year into his retirement as an officer that Leigh came back to work in the force’s dog unit, initially as a kennel assistant.

Within a matter of weeks, he was helping with dog training and licensing and during his three years in post he was also lucky enough to breed a litter of German Shepherd puppies – which includes one of Leicestershire’s current police dogs – Astro.

In 2019 Leigh then took a position in a neighbouring force to work as a permanent dog trainer but the following year he was back in Leicestershire when the force advertised the same role and Leigh was successfully appointed.

Since taking up this role nearly two and a half years ago, Leigh has been instrumental in ensuring both the police dogs and their handlers are prepared for operational duty and able to help provide the best possible service to the public.

Superintendent Lou Cordiner, force lead for the Tactical Dogs and Firearms unit, said: “Leigh has had an outstanding career – 30 years as a police officer and 25 of those years being a police dog handler.

“On his retirement he became a police dog instructor. Leigh’s commitment to public service and policing the communities of Leicester Leicestershire and Rutland is exceptional. On behalf of us all, both within Leicestershire Police and communities – a sincere thank you Leigh.”

And as Leigh prepares to leave policing behind for a final time later – one of the parts of retirement he is most looking forward to is being able to devote his time to a soon-to-be new pet, a German Shepherd puppy!

Leigh with Superintendent Lou Cordiner