LANPAC funding for two new ‘FIDO cams’

Lancashire Constabulary is taking delivery of two of the latest hi-tech police dog cameras thanks to a £6,000 donation from a local businessman.

The Firearms Intervention and Dangerous Operations (FIDO) cameras will be used by dogs trained to help during armed sieges.

The FIDO cameras, manufactured by South Yorkshire CCTV and video specialists Industrial Television Ltd, provide vital information for officers when entering buildings. Police dogs wearing the camera equipment can search buildings during sieges or other potentially life-threatening situations to alert officers to the number of suspects hiding in a building, its layout and whether or not anyone is armed.

The cameras wirelessly transmit audio and video back to a hand-held monitor for officers to view. It can also be used to search buildings in the dark, with infra-red imaging providing pictures in total darkness to a range of three to five metres from the dog.

Sergeant Phil Kenyon, of Lancashire Constabulary’s Police Dog Training Unit, said: “We have used earlier versions of the FIDO system for some years with notable success but the technology behind it is progressing at a tremendous pace. This [donation] means that we can equip our dogs and their handlers with state-of-the-art cameras to make the hazardous work of our specialist firearms teams that bit easier.”

The latest FIDO system reduces the weight carried by the dog by as much as 75 per cent. This enables the dog to negotiate steep downward slopes without danger of overbalancing and also considerably reduces fatigue.

Rechargeable batteries, able to provide power for up to four hours, are contained in the collar.

The donation, from Manchester-based businesseman Mr Ilyas Ahmed, was secured through the Lancashire Partnership Against Crime (LANPAC).