Dogs are a part of everyday life for kids in the bush but students at the Longreach School of Distance Education loved getting to know more about the life of police dogs recently.
Two of them - PD Violet and PD Rue - both six-year-old Labradors, charmed about 20 students from as far afield as Torrens Creek and Isisford when they gave one of the school's broadcasting studios a close inspection, along with their handler, Senior Constable Cam O'Sullivan.
The trio is more used to assisting with search warrants and doing vehicle searches in the central Queensland region but were on a familiarisation visit to the western part of the state.
Snr Constable O'Sullivan said it had been a good chance for the children to see something they didn't ordinarily experience.
"It gives us a chance to build a relationship, seeing as they have working dogs at home," he said.
"They wanted to know how long it took for the dogs to do a training course, and whether the dogs retired.
"And then there were just general questions about policing."
The pair have been assigned to Snr Constable O'Sullivan since 2016 and live with himself and his family in Rockhampton.
"I'm lucky to go to work every day with two of my best mates," he said.
Along with his canine helpers he's been able to make a difference in rural parts of the state, many of them battling the scourge of ice.
Both dogs are drug detection dogs that are cross-trained in firearm detection, and they help Snr Constable O'Sullivan in his work of supporting different police units.
Before coming to Rockhampton, he worked at Mt Morgan and at the single-officer station at Mungindi.
"People in little communities are genuine and you can address problems more in small communities, whether it be crime trends, mental health or community policing," he said. "You know who you're dealing with."
The LSODE students online were lucky enough to watch PD Violet do a training run, which resulted in lots of cheers from her new biggest fans.
Snr Constable O'Sullivan said it had been a great opportunity to build a positive relationship and to help reinforce that police were there to help the community.
"Who knows, we might have some new recruits to the police service within the group."
He said he was looking forward to visiting other small country schools throughout his travels.
Sally Gall
Based at Blackall, CW Qld, where I've raised a family, run Merino sheep and beef cattle, and helped develop a region - its history, tourism, education and communications. Get in touch at 0427 575 955 if you've got a story idea for me.
Based at Blackall, CW Qld, where I've raised a family, run Merino sheep and beef cattle, and helped develop a region - its history, tourism, education and communications. Get in touch at 0427 575 955 if you've got a story idea for me.
