GRIMSBY'S first ever police dog handler has recalled the vital emerging role the dog section played in fighting crime in the 1960s.
Len Rayner looked back fondly over his six years as a dog handler with the Grimsby Borough Police.
He has created a lasting memory of both his own and his father's experiences of policing in North East Lincolnshire which he intends to be displayed at Grimsby Town Hall. It features badges and pictures from their time served, as well as Len's actual police handcuffs and whistle.
Len, now 83, told how he began to patrol Grimsby with Alsatian Grimpol Tex, or Tex for short, in 1961. The pair became inseparable and together they were named as the top handler and dog in Britain five years later.
Len recalled how his motto became: "Always trust your dog." On numerous occasions, Tex assisted in finding criminals and tracking down vulnerable missing people.
Len said he had recently met with Humberside Police's top dog section officer who had listened keenly to his stories. He was later invited to open a new training school for dog handlers.
Len, now of New Waltham, had followed in his father Percy's footsteps when he joined the police in 1953. He served as an officer until 1961 when the then Chief Constable decided to invest in a dog section.
Having been paired with Tex, Len became British Police Dog Handling champion in 1966 and appeared on Blue Peter on the BBC – and still has his Blue Peter Badge.
Tex went on to serve until 1967 when a broken leg forced his retirement. He died in 1972 having spent his final years as a treasured family pet.
Len said it had been difficult in the early days for the dog handling to become a trusted method of fighting crime.
He said: "The old type police officer didn't want to accept dogs but we went on to have a lot of success."
He recalled: "We tracked down an elderly patient with dementia that had escaped from the Springfield Isolation Hospital. We found him two miles away in a ditch and we got him to hospital.
"Two hours later the heavens opened and he would almost certainly have died. I still have great satisfaction from that."
He recalled another occasion when he and Tex investigated the scene of an apparent robbery of a young girl in Grimsby's Lord Street.
He said a senior officer scoffed when told that the dog had found little matter of interest at the scene.
It emerged that the robbery had been a fake, and that the girl's injuries were self-inflicted. But it was only Tex's lack of a trail at the scene that led police to that conclusion.
Len said: "The dogs have progressed considerably since then and I think they now play a very important part in policing.
"Our force dispensed with the horse section but I think horses were very much a status symbol. The dogs have a vital role to play in fighting crime.
He told how the small team of dog handlers in Grimsby would visit schools to speak to schoolchildren. He added that those he spoke to often remember him when they pass in the street, and thank him for the visits.
Len thanked Grimsby firm Total Signs, and director Kerry Tully for helping to put his display together free of charge.
He said: "I'm hoping eventually to get in touch with the Town Hall and have it on permanent display.
"The Grimsby Police were an efficient force and it was sad to see its demise when we amalgamated. We were very proud of the fact that we had the opportunity to serve in that force."
