Meet the latest litter of police puppies for Surrey and Sussex

• VIDEO REPORT BY ITV MERIDIAN'S CHLÖE OLIVER

They're the canines on the front line who assist police at railway stations, airports, drugs busts or large crowd events. But they all have to start somewhere and, for many four-legged officers, that place is a very special school in the south. 

The Police Dog Section based out of Surrey Police HQ in Guildford covers Surrey, Sussex, and Gatwick with 100 operational dogs across the area.

Instructors train hundreds of dogs for Sussex and Surrey, as well as missions across the world including Bahrain, Hong Kong and Ireland.

The new litter of red and black labradors were born and bred in Surrey. They're among 70 pups currently being trained at the world leading dog school. 

• In October 2019, ITV Meridian filmed with the newest litter of police pups, the R litter, when they were just weeks old

Now, those R litter are coming up to 18 months old and are finishing off training before beginning as fully fledged officers of the law.

From detecting drugs, tackling hardened criminals or searching for missing people; sometimes a human needs a dog's help.

Pete Greenfield has over 37 years Policing experience, which includes Uniform and CID having joined the Surrey Police in November 1979, 28 of these years’ have been as a Dog Handler and Instructor. During this period, he has worked 4 General Purpose Dogs and 3 Explosive search Detection Dogs.

For the 2021 litter, it's just the beginning. Tom, Todd, Timber, Tier and Tala are currently being cared for at foster homes until they're old enough to begin proper training. In a year's time, they'll take their first step in training towards becoming a working police dog when training begins.