It is with great sadness that the Far North Police District says farewell to retired Police Dog (PD) Zed after he passed away earlier this week.
The 10-year-old German Shepherd spent 5 years policing in the Far North, during that time he located in excess of 60 offenders.
Zed was assigned to handler Sergeant Dave Raymond
as a puppy and underwent basic training with him until he was old enough to undergo Police Dog Training in Brisbane. Zed successfully graduated formal training and was officially sworn in as ‘Police Dog Zed’ with Sergeant Raymond in September 2005.
After retiring in 2009 Zed was content to become the much loved pet for the Raymond family, despite having to share his handler with the new ‘dog on the block’ Police Dog Vader.
Although Zed had great tracking abilities and was an excellent police dog, his gentle nature made him perfect candidate for visits to Far Northern schools and kindergartens, a job that he continued to do well into his retirement.
Sergeant Dave Raymond recalls one of Zed’s best jobs being when he located a man attempting to harm himself in bushland in 2007.
“Zed put his nose down and tracked the man for over a 1km before successfully locating him, enabling police an emergency services to provide much need assistance” said Sergeant Raymond.
PD Zed searches for drugs in a vehicle with Sgt Raymond.
Zed was also trained as a drug detection dog to locate Marijuana. Sergeant Raymond recalls an occasion when Zed surprised him with an unexpected drug find;
“I let Zed out briefly one day into a paddock to relieve himself during patrols, Zed mistakenly thought he was doing an article search for drugs and after a short time brought back to me a large quantity of methamphetamine. It turned out that the owner of the drugs had quickly disposed of it after a neighbouring address was subject of a search warrant by police” said Sergeant Raymond.
Not only will Zed be deeply missed by the Raymond family he will also be sadly missed by police and community members in the far north.
May you rest in peace PD Zed.
Puppy Zed with Sgt Dave Raymond.
Puppy Zed already looking for the ‘bad guys’.
PD Zed searches for drugs in a vehicle with Sgt Raymond.
PD Zed in his days on patrol in the Far North
Zed enjoying his retirement with a play on the beach.
Retired PD Zed showing his softer side at one of his regular school visits during his retirment.
