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A page dedicated to the work of Eddie and Keela
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Keela's Nose Makes Her Top Dog, 30 December 2005 |
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11:52am UK, Friday December 30, 2005
Keela is a top dog in the police world, earning more in a day than her force's Chief Constable
by working on some of the country's highest-profile crimes.
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| The pride of South Yorkshire |
The 16-month-old springer spaniel can sniff out the smallest samples of human blood - even after items have been cleaned
or washed many times.
The South Yorkshire Police dog has already helped forces across the country, including working on the stabbing of Abigail
Witchalls in Surrey.
Her going rate is £530 per day, plus expenses.
If she worked every day of the year, she would earn almost £200,000 - around £70,000 more than her force's Chief Constable.
In the New Year, Keela will be travelling to America to assist the FBI with two murder inquiries.
A South Yorkshire force spokeswoman said the crime scene investigation dog has saved more then £200,000 nationally since
April this year, helping with investigations in Ireland, Cornwall, Wiltshire, Surrey and the Thames Valley areas.
Her handler, PC Martin Grime, has been responsible for training Keela, along with National Search Adviser Mark Harrison,
since June last year.
Unlike ordinary police dogs, Keela has never taken part in the usual six-week training course but has been trained, bit
by bit, by PC Grime every day.
Her programme involved training her to ignore decomposing body materials other than human blood.
Instead of barking when she smells blood, she has been trained to have a "passive" alert - freezing with her nose as
near to the subject matter as possible without touching, to enable scientists to recover the sample quickly and efficiently.
This technique has saved time and money on major investigations.
South Yorkshire Chief Constable Meredydd Hughes said: "Keela's training gives the force an edge when it comes to forensic
investigation, which we should recognise and use more often.
"We know we have an operationally excellent dog section, and our specialist dogs are being developed in a unique way."
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UK's No1 Sherlock Bones, 30 December 2005 |
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By Alastair Taylor
Published: 30 Dec 2005
BRITAIN'S most amazing police dog can earn more than her chief constable.
Springer spaniel Keela is so smart she is hired by other forces for £530 a day - plus expenses.
That is a rate of £200,000 a year, compared to the £129,963 paid to South Yorkshire's top cop Med Hughes.
Keela, 16 months, has helped detectives around the country with high profile cases, including the stabbing of Abigail
Witchalls, 26, in Surrey.
Now she is going to the United States - to show off her skills to the FBI
Her sense of smell is so keen she can sniff out blood on clothes after they have been washed repeatedly in biological
powder.
She can pick out microscopic amounts of blood even on weapons that have been scrubbed clean. And she is able to lead
detectives to minuscule pieces of other evidence.
Handlers PC Martin Grimes and PC John Ellis devised a special training regime to focus Keela's remarkable sense of smell.
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On scent of success: sniffer dog Keela earns more than her Chief Constable, 30 December 2005 |
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On scent of success: sniffer dog Keela earns more than her Chief Constable Timesonline
By Karen McVeigh
December 30, 2005
HER detective work is unsurpassed, her dedication to duty during some of Britain’s most challenging murder cases
unfailing.
Keela, a 16-month-old springer spaniel, has become such an asset to South Yorkshire Police that she now earns more than
the chief constable.
Her sense of smell, so keen that she can sniff traces of blood on weapons that have been scrubbed after attacks, has
her so much in demand by forces up and down the country that she is hired out at £530 a day, plus expenses.
Thought to be the only one of her kind, the crime scenes dog earns nearly £200,000 a year. Her daily rate, ten times
that of ordinary police dogs, puts her on more than the chief constable, Meredydd Hughes, who picks up £129,963.
Keela's considerable talent in uncovering minute pieces of evidence that can later be confirmed by forensic tests has
put her in the forefront of detective work across Britain. She was drafted in to help after the stabbing of the young mother,
Abigail Witchalls, in Surrey, and has been involved in high- profile cases across 17 forces, from Devon and Cornwall to Strathclyde.
She has already helped to apprehend a murderer after sniffing out blood on a knife.
PC John Ellis, her handler, said that police sent for Keela when the scenes of crime squad failed to find what they were
looking for. "She can detect minute quantities of blood that cannot be seen with the human eye," he said. "She is used at
scenes where someone has tried to clean it up. If blood has seeped into the tiles behind a bath where a body has been, she
can find it."
The spaniel can sniff out blood in clothes after they have been washed repeatedly in biological washing powder, and can
detect microscopic amounts on weapons that have been scrubbed and washed.
When faced with a "clean" crime scene, Mr Ellis and PC Martin Grimes, Keela's other handler, will first send in Frankie,
a border collie, and Eddie, another springer spaniel, to pick up any general scent. Then they wheel in the big gun.
"We take Keela in and she will find the minutest traces of blood," Mr Ellis said. "It's not like looking for a needle
in a haystack any more. The other two dogs will find the haystack and Keela will find the needle."
While the other dogs bark, Keela has been trained to freeze and pinpoint the area with her nose.
Mr Ellis said Keela's "perfect temperament" and enthusiasm made her a great asset. "We thought we would get one or two
deployments a year, but things have just snowballed. Obviously when we are called in by other forces they are charged a fee
and it's quite funny to think she can earn more than the chief constable."
Mr Hughes showed there were no hard feelings. The chief constable said: "Keela's training gives the force an edge when
it comes to forensic investigation which we should recognise and use more often."
Mr Ellis and Mr Grimes came up with a special training regime to focus on Keela's remarkable skills. It has proved so
successful that the FBI has inquired about it. "The FBI is very interested in how we work because they don't have this sort
of facility in-house and they are looking at setting up their own unit," Mr Ellis said.
Paul Ruffell, of K9 Solutions, a security firm specialising in dog units, said he was amazed at Keela's abilities. "I've
been working in this business for 25 years and I've never heard anything like it," he said.
ANIMAL MAGIC
£200,000 DOG
Keela crime scene investigation dog, South Yorkshire Police
Pay none. Charges £530 a day plus expenses for services. Earned almost £200,000
last year
Career joined South Yorkshire Police in 2003 at 12 weeks. Came originally
from West Midlands Police, from a large litter. Period of training lasted a few months
Hobbies chasing her tail and eating
£129,000 MAN
Meredydd Hughes, Chief Constable of South Yorkshire
Pay £129,963 a year
Career joined North Wales Constabulary, 1979. Promoted to Superintendent
in West Yorkshire Police in 1995 and Assistant Chief Constable in Greater Manchester, 1999
Hobbies rock climbing, mountainbiking and mountaineering
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Portuguese police turned down offer of dog help, 23 May 2007 |
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By Ian Hepburn and John Askill
Published: 23 May 2007
Stubborn Portuguese police chiefs are refusing to let the world's best sniffer dogs join the hunt for Madeleine
McCann.
Senior British cops last night urged officers leading the inquiry to accept help from UK dog teams before it is too late.
Two dogs attached to Britain's National Policing Improvement Agency have developed such powerful tracking skills they
can follow a scent for miles, even one up to 28 days old.
By sniffing an item of Maddie's clothing, they could trace a trail that might finally unlock the mystery of the four-year-old's
disappearance.
Police in the Algarve appear no nearer to finding Maddie 20 days after she was snatched from her bed in the family's
holiday apartment in Praia da Luz. But the sniffer dogs are still being snubbed.
A senior UK police source said: "It is an absolute scandal, time is fast running out for this little girl.
"These dogs have immense capability. Their tracking skills are among the finest in the world.
"The dogs were put on standby to go to the Algarve within days of Madeleine’s disappearance.
"You would expect the Portuguese to make use of the best resources available to them, but they repeatedly ignore the
offers of assistance."
The dogs include a spaniel whose sense of smell is so keen she can sniff traces of blood on a weapon even after it has
been scrubbed clean.
But the source warned: "They work most effectively within a 28-day time frame. After that the scent becomes much weaker."
Other British dog-handling teams did join the initial search for Maddie, and local cops later reported that dogs found
a scent, but the trail was lost after 250 yards.
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Top sniffer dog to join Maddy search, 08 August 2007 |
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Spaniel used in Ulster murder hunts flies in
By Brendan McDaid
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
The sniffer dog who found the body of murdered Ulsterwoman Attracta Harron has been flown to Portugal in the hunt for
the body of Madeleine McCann, the Belfast Telegraph can reveal.
Specially-trained English springer spaniel Eddie and
his companion Keela were taken to Praia de Luz complex in the Algarve several days ago as the search for the missing four-year-old
intensified.
The police dogs, which are trained to sniff out minute traces of blood, were drafted in after the focus
of the investigation again turned on the apartment where the McCann family were staying when Madeleine disappeared 97 days
ago.
The dogs, which have also been involved in the Ulster search for missing Tyrone teenager Arlene Arkinson, were
yesterday still in Portugal.
The identity of the two hounds emerged as reports that sniffer dogs from the UK found
specks in the apartment where the four-year-old was last seen.
As Madeleine's parents Gerry and Kate last night clung
to the hope that their daughter will be found alive, it is understood forensic tests are being carried out to determine whether
the substance is actually blood.
If the tests prove positive, DNA samples could be used to see if there is any match
to Madeleine.
Used across the world for his accuracy, seven-year-old hound Eddie helped police put Trevor Hamilton
behind bars in 2006 after the victim recovery dog found 63-year- old Attracta Harron's blood on the 23-year-old murderer's
burned-out Hyundai.
Eddie, who works for South Yorkshire police, also located Attracta's body in a shallow grave in
April 2003.
Last year the dog and his handlers returned to Ulster for a third time to help find missing Arlene Arkinson.
The Tyrone teenager went missing after leaving a disco in Bundoran, Co Donegal, on August 13, 1994.
Both Eddie
and Keela have also been used in various disappearance and murder cases in the US and the Republic of Ireland.
Despite
the upsurge in activity, Kate and Gerry McCann have said that they are remaining focused on finding their daughter alive.
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Four-legged sniffers of the truth, 08 August 2007 |
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ROBERT MATTHEWS salutes the extraordinary olfactory abilities
of the springer spaniel
FIRST POSTED
AUGUST 8, 2007
If, or as seems increasingly likely, when, the full story of the disappearance of Madeleine McCann is revealed, one question
will demand an answer: why did detectives wait three months before bringing in sniffer dogs?
Traces of blood were found
earlier this week by specially-trained springer spaniels in Madeleine's bedroom in Praia da Luz. Samples taken from the scene
are now being tested by British forensic scientists.
Whatever the outcome, there can be no doubt that the job of linking
them to the missing three-year-old girl - and possibly even finding her - has been made harder by the delay.
The wonder
is that the traces of blood were found at all. Invisible to the naked eye, they have almost certainly been subject to scrubbing
and cleaning agents. But then, sniffer dogs are trained to perform such wonders on a daily basis
Using simple Pavlovian
stimulus-and-reward methods, their handlers train them to sniff out substances ranging from bodily fluids to drugs and explosives.
The secret of their success lies in their noses - more specifically, their olfactory epithelium, an area of scent-detecting
cells which is 50 times larger in dogs than in humans.
The sensitivity of these cells is astounding, allowing dogs
to detect molecules in concentrations 100 million times weaker than humans can manage. This was how one dog deployed in the
Algarve nailed the murderer of Attracta Harron in 2006, detecting traces of her blood in her assailant's burned-out car.
Scrubbing,
detergents, masking scents, incineration: these four-legged molecule hunters will take it all in their stride - if only humans
give them the chance.
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The English sniffer dogs that are helping in the hunt for Madeleine, 10 August 2007 |
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The English sniffer dogs that are helping in the hunt for Madeleine Daily Mail
Last updated at 12:58 10 August 2007
A dog who was 'earning' more money than her force's Chief Constable has been brought in to help Portuguese police in
their hunt for missing Madeleine McCann.
Specially-trained Keela was flown to Praia da Luz in the Algarve last week because she can detect human blood - even
after items have been cleaned or washed many times.
Keela, and another English springer spaniel called Eddie, have now both been enlisted in the hunt for the missing four-year-old.
Keela hit the headlines two years ago because she was earning more than her force's Chief Constable.
The South Yorkshire Police dog has already helped forces across the country, including working on the high-profile stabbing
of pregnant mother Abigail Witchalls in Surrey, and was being hired out for £530 per day, plus expenses.
Back then she would have been earning almost £200,000 - around £70,000 more than her force's Chief Constable - if she
worked every day of the year.
She has been trained to ignore decomposing body materials other than human blood.
And instead of barking when she smells blood, she has been trained to have a "passive" alert - freezing with her nose
as near to the subject matter as possible without touching, to enable scientists to recover the sample quickly and efficiently.
This technique has saved time and money on major investigations.
She can search any area, including houses, cars, boats, both indoors and outdoors, and will lead her handler to spots
of blood so small that humans cannot see them.
She screens textiles and can pick out traces of blood even after clothing has been washed many times or weapons cleaned.
When Keela was working on the Abigail Witchalls case she found eight piece of blood-stained clothing in just one day.
Now the dogs have been brought in to help after the police looking into her disappearance re-focused on the McCanns'
holiday apartment.
Madeleine has now been missing for 99 days and police are increasingly desperate for any kind of breakthrough in her
case - as are her parents Kate and Gerry, who are still in Portugal.
Both sniffer dogs are attached to South Yorkshire Police.
Eddie is a "victim recovery dog" who can detect blood and human remains.
It appears highly likely that Keela was the dog who was brought in by British detectives last week who located tiny traces
of blood in the McCanns' apartment despite alleged attempts to wash them off.
Police are still waiting for the results of tests on the recovered traces, which arrived yesterday at a top UK forensic
laboratory.
The sniffer dogs have already travelled around Britain, and to Ireland and the US to help police investigating murder
and missing person cases.
A dog diary about Keela on the South Yorkshire Police website when she was six months old says she and Eddie live "with
my dad" at home in Bawtry, Doncaster.
It reads: "He is going to train me to search for very small spots of blood at crime scenes, so small that the humans
can't see it.
"My very sensitive nose will be able to smell the blood and I will show Dad where it is. He can then show the scientists
so that they can take samples." South Yorkshire Police were unavailable for comment last night.
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Specialized K-9 to Aid in Ga. Search, 14 September 2007 |
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Monika Rued
Updated: 9/14/2007 11:19:53 AM
A dog trained to detect tiny bits of blood evidence has been brought to Georgia from the UK to help search for a missing
woman.
The FBI, the GBI and Walker County, Georgia, Sheriff's investigators have some new and potentially powerful help in solving
the seemingly unsolvable disappearance of Theresa Parker, the Walker County 911 dispatcher. A world-renowned police dog and
his handler from England just arrived in Georgia.
The FBI considers them -- Martin Grime and his 7-year-old, English Springer Spaniel, Eddie -- two of the best in the
law enforcement specialty of canine forensics, able to find evidence everyone else missed.
"Yes, hopefully we will find Theresa Parker. Yes, we will hopefully find evidence," Grime said at an afternoon news conference
with Sheriff Steve Wilson in the Walker County Seat of Lafayette on Thursday afternoon.
Eddie's skill and training enable him to find microscopic evidence that others cannot, even when the evidence is hidden,
or even when someone has tried to wash it away.
"A small amount of forensic evidence," for example, "may be under a board in a house, or under a large boulder, and things
like that, where forensic evidence can't normally be recovered from. We'll use the dogs to try and locate it for us," Grime
said.
Grime and Eddie are in high demand, world wide.
Getting them to Walker County from England to help solve Theresa Parker's disappearance is an indication of how high
a priority her case is for the FBI, according to one FBI agent close to the case.
Eddie is a veteran of more than 200 homicide cases, working with Grime, who has 30 years' of law enforcement and military
experience in conducting criminal investigations.
No one is officially calling Theresa Parker's case a homicide.
Parker disappeared nearly six months ago, on March 21.
Investigators in Walker County consider Parker's estranged husband, Sam Parker, to be a person of interest in her disappearance.
So that's one line of inquiry they will pursue using Eddie's unique technique.
"It focuses on a particular line of inquiry so that we can either say, yes, we found Theresa and we found the guy who's
done it or the lady that's done it, or, no," Grime said.
Earlier this year, in Portugal, for example, Martin Grime and Eddie were working the case of the missing 4-year-old English
girl, Madeleine McCann.
And it was Eddie that detected what may have been Madeleine's blood in her parents' rental car.
That's one of the reasons investigators now consider Madeleine's parents to be suspects.
Grimes said Eddie is "no miracle machine," but the FBI, GBI and Walker County investigators are clearly hoping the team
from England can help crack their case, a case that has confounded everyone.
This past Sunday, Theresa Parker's family and friends marked her 42nd birthday with prayers, saying they are still confident
that investigators are doing all they can.
"We still have not given up hope," Sheriff Wilson said Thursday, "and we're still optimistic that she will be found,
or that we can find the reason why she disappeared."
Sheriff Wilson is not saying how long Martin Grime and Eddie will be in Walker County, but Grime had already been consulting
with investigators, long distance, from his home in the UK, before he arrived in Walker County, and will continue to do so
after he returns home.
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| Eddie takes a breather during a news conference in which his special skills were revealed |
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| Eddie is a veteran of more than 200 homicide cases |
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| Martin Grime is a dog handler who works with Eddie on highly publicized cases |
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| When Eddie finds microscopic blood that others cannot see, he points his nose at the exact spot |
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