Durham Police puts spotlight on PSD Rogue in leadup to National Dog Day

An eight-week campaign highlighting Durham Police service dogs kicked off Friday, with PSD Rogue – also known as Honey Badger – the first pooch to get his paws up for the honour.

The initiative is dubbed Furry Fridays and will be featured every Monday on indurham, leading up to National Dog Day on Saturday August 26.

If that seems confusing, imagine how suspects on the run feel when they’re being tracked by the DRPS service dogs.

First up is Rogue, whose tenacity got him the ‘Honey Badger’ nickname. Rogue was born March 13, 2015 in Hungary and has been a valuable member of the service working D/Cst King since his training was completed.

Their most memorable call together was in July 2022: Two officers observed a U-HAUL truck driving in an erratic manner. Officers attempted a traffic stop for the possible offence of impaired driving. The truck sped away leading police on a short pursuit before the officers called off the chase in the interest of public safety.

The suspect vehicle was spotted by passing motorists and the two suspects were observed running from the vehicle into a deep wooded area. A K9 track was initiated and officers swarmed the area in the search.

After a nearly two-hour track King and Rogue located two suspects hiding deep in a swamp. The track went through deep bush, steep hills and through waist high swamps resulting in one suspect being apprehended by Rogue and the other being arrested without incident trying to hide in the deep grass.