Semen sniffing Derbyshire police dog retires

A police dog believed to be the first trained in the UK to find semen at a crime scene has retired.

Billie joined Derbyshire Police in 2014, having shown an ability to detect as little as 0.016ml of seminal fluid, even if it was a year old.

The force said he had taken part in 120 searches and had found "pivotal" evidence to convict sex offenders.

After years of tracking criminals and training other dogs, Billie now looks forward to retirement with a family.

During Billie's searches he located evidence at about a third of the scenes he visited, which was recovered and then sent for analysis.

The cocker spaniel was based with handler PC Dean Allen in Erewash, but has covered jobs throughout the East Midlands, Manchester and North Wales.

PC Allen said: "Billie has been a fantastic dog... and my family and I are going to miss him lots.

"However... he's fallen on all four feet with a loving family and even an eighteen-month old springer spaniel, named Molly, to play with during the next period of his life.

"I would love to have kept him myself, but I don't believe I could dedicate... the time he deserved and I know he's going to be very happy with his new family."

Chief Constable Rachel Swann said Billie's work for the force had been "vital".

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