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Inaugural Military Police Dog of the Year Award presented
We issued our first ever Military Police Dog of the Year Award to RAF Police dog Paul in November for his incredible career so far.
Royal Air Force Police Dog Paul, a four-year-old springer spaniel, was presented with the award two months after our 2025 awards ceremony after he suffered a serious cruciate injury.
But he has now received his medal and trophy, alongside handler Sgt Craig Roberts, for their work based at RAF Northolt, in London, and RAF Brize Norton, in Oxfordshire.
MWD Paul has worked as an arms and explosives search dog since August 2022 and has had six operational finds during his career.
Sgt Roberts said: “I was lucky to get Paul straight out of training so I did a lot of extra work with him so I could put my stamp on how he worked. He wasn’t a natural search dog but he trained really well.
“Unlike handlers who work with drugs dogs, who want to make finds, as handlers of explosives dogs you never want to find anything. But Paul has had six finds during his career.
“He was very busy as a young dog, and I recognise that being in the right place at the right time was a factor, but I’m grateful that our hard work, training, and dedication helped him make the most of those opportunities. Some dogs can go their whole career without ever having a find!”
Station Commander at RAF Northolt Group Captain Lee Wales said: “Congratulations to MWD Paul and his handler Sgt Craig Roberts. It is a proud moment to see the commitment and dedication of our RAF Police dogs acknowledged in this way. The recognition from the Thin Blue Paw means a great deal to us.”
Our Chairman Kieran Stanbridge said: “This is the first year we’ve offered an award in this category but we really felt like the dogs of the military police had been overlooked and deserved some recognition.
“MWD Paul is a worthy winner, even though he’s still early on in his career. His instinct, training and expertise helped to avert what could have been six potentially life-threatening incidents.”
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