A newly-born police puppy has been named Ken in a fitting tribute to popular police dog handler Ken Exley, who died last year.

Mr Exley, who was 76 when he passed away, became one of the first dog handlers in the country when he was appointed to the role in 1960 as PC 386.

He served in Bradford for more than 30 years and, when he died, former colleagues decided they wanted to commemorate his life.

The Bradford branch of the National Association of Retired Police Officers (NARPO) was told it could subsidise a police dog for a year, paying for its initial upbringing, injections and early training.

Members of the branch jumped at the opportunity and, yesterday, they presented a cheque for £500 at the police dog training centre near Wakefield.

Joseph Broadley, chairman of the Bradford branch of NARPO, said: "Ken was a gentle giant and an extremely popular member of the force.

"He worked in Bradford for 30 years."

Mr Broadley, who started at Shipley police station as a new recruit in 1952 and finished at the same station in 1989 as superintendent, said: "Ken was a dedicated dog man. If you were in any trouble, you would shout for him."

Retired Bradford police inspector Dorothy Bell, secretary of the Bradford branch of NARPO, said: "We have subsidised a little dog in its first year of life so we can call it Ken in tribute to one of our members who unfortunately died last year.

"Ken Exley was PC 386 in the Bradford City Police force. He was appointed a dog handler in 1960 - one of the first dog handlers in the country.

"When he died, we decided we would like to pay tribute to him and, when we asked, we were told we could subsidise a police dog for a year.

"We will pay for its vet fees and injections and so on and, after he is really trained, he will become a police dog with West Yorkshire Police.

"Ken was a very popular member of the police force and NARPO and we thought that this would be an appropriate tribute to pay to him."

Chief Inspector Graham Armitage, of West Yorkshire Police's operational support division, said: "It's really good that NARPO are contributing the money to the dog section.

"It's a project that we hope will provide us with dogs for a long time in the future. Any interest we can get from the police family or externally I very welcome.

"Ever since Ken's time, the dog section in its different forms had trained police dogs to support police work.

"They are trained to trail, search buildings, search open areas for property and people. They also train drug dogs and explosion search dogs and dogs that find firearms."

e-mail: will.kilner@bradford.newsquest.co.uk

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