Recognizing The Work Of Officer Striker

Tuesday, 14 May 2019 06:45

Heart FM's Dan Henry in studio with Officer Striker

Officer Striker is easily one of the most popular constables on the Woodstock Police Force.

WOODSTOCK - It's Police week in Ontario and Heart FM is doing a profile on our local detachment in Woodstock.

Today we focus on Officer Striker and K-9 division.

Striker has been the official Woodstock police dog since 2015 and is very present in the community. His handler, Constable Dan Skillings says Officer Striker doesn't just find drugs or chase down suspects.

"One of the biggest ones I think that we have been utilized for in the community is mental health calls, with suicidal people who have left a note or reached out to someone on social media. If we can find a starting point of where they have left from or an area of where they might be heading to. One example of this is when we found a party on the side of the railroad tracks who had been consuming alcohol and drugs, basically building up courage to wait for the next train and his intention was to jump in front of the next train. When Striker found him, it was the middle of the night and it was pitch black and without Striker I would of walked right by him. Without his tools and his specialty we might not of got there in time and we have responded to multiple calls like that, we were able to find someone and get them some help. Those are the calls that really satisfying because he potentially just saved someone's life.

At least half of the calls that Striker is deployed on is to help police track good people, who are missing or suicidal. He is often used to help bring seniors back home who have wondered off because of Alzheimer's and is often brought in for mental health distress calls as well, so police can talk to that person and try to provide help.

You can also see striker in the community. Skillings says they try to go to as many events as they can.

"We go to all the grade 6 classes in the City and do a talk about the dog and drugs. We try to make it to all of the requested City events. We were just at McHappy Day last week and were able to take some pictures at both McDonalds in the City. The support from the community in those type of venues is just overwhelming."

Skillings notes it is always a positive experience when Striker is out in the public. The kids love him and so do the adults.
Striker has been with the Woodstock since 2015 and got his name after a contest featuring all of the public schools in the City.