Appearing to brim with pride as he held his head high, Jerry, the Kerala Police’s star canine sleuth, was the cynosure of all eyes at a ceremony held at the State Police Headquarters on Tuesday.
Jerry, a tracker dog attached to the K9 Squad, the police dog squad, was felicitated for his roles in cracking several crime cases. Recently, the Labrador retriever’s role in solving a murder case at Kadakkavoor five years ago was applauded by the court here.
In recognition of his efforts, State Police Chief Anil Kant presented him the DGP’s commendation medal on Tuesday. His handlers Vishnu Shankar V.S. and Anoop M.V. were presented cash awards by ADGP (Headquarters) Manoj Abraham. DIG (Battalion) P. Prakash was also present on the occasion.
Soon after joining service with the Thiruvananthapuram Rural police in 2016, Jerry played a crucial role in the murder case of a woman in Kadakkavoor in December the same year.
The dog led the investigation team to the house of Manikandan, who was recently found guilty in the case, after sniffing blood from a knife that was recovered by the police.
During his five years of service, he assisted the police in solving many other cases including three other murder cases in the Palode and Kilimanoor police station limits. Jerry was the winner of the best tracker award during the fifth batch police dog training 2015-16 conducted by the State Dog Training School under the Kerala Police Academy in Thrissur.