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Now in post at Parc Prison, Bridgend, the five-year-old has become the UK’s first mobile phone detection dog after taking an intensive two-week course.
Police dog trainer PC Steve Sutton – who helped devise the programme – said operational drugs dog Max can sniff out all mobile components, including SIM cards and batteries.
He said: “We configured a way to imprint the dog with the scent of mobile phone components – to Max the phone is just like another drug scent.
“Upon detecting any phone part will scratch at the area to alert the handler and we are very happy with how successful his training has proved to be.”
Prison and Custody Officer Gareth Kite, who is Max’s handler, said that the intensive training package had been a “challenging and eye opening experience”.
He added: “I was amazed at the talents Max demonstrated and how quickly he was able to pick up the scent of mobile phones – the course was informative and I was privileged to work alongside two experienced instructors.”
Mike Thomas, Head of Security and Operations at Parc, said: “Mobile phones are a growing problem and a serious threat to security at UK prisons.
“I am extremely grateful to the dog trainers at South Wales Police for their co-operation and dedication to the training of our mobile phone detection dog.
“G4S hopes to continue to work closely with police – the success of Officer Kite and Max will hopefully see more dogs trained in this role for prisons across the country.”
The Prison Service has been examining several ways of removing mobiles from the hands of prisoners.
Among them, trials of signal denial technologies have been underway at some jails. However a Prison Service spokesman stressed the issue was not straightforward.
He said: “There are issues around the technology, most prominent of which is the impact it may have on legitimate mobile phone users in the area.
“We are, however, looking to prevent those serving custodial sentences from using the phones – possession of mobile devices is illegal for prisoners.”
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