Newcastle Herald Topics: Meet the newest NSW Police pups to join the force

The six pups, four females and two males, were born in what's been dubbed C Litter in May this year.

Their father, Vegas, has helped find a missing person in the Hunter but might be feeling this is his toughest assignment.

Patients at Sydney Children's Hospital voted for their favourite names starting with C to dub the pups, and NSW Police on Tuesday revealed the winners.

Cody, Carrie, Carol, Cali, Charger and Coops came out on top, the latter two being the names for the boys.

Naming the pups gave eight-year-old Alice, who unexpectedly had to spend several hours in the Randwick hospital's emergency department, a positive distraction.

"I wanted to name the puppy Cody because my best friend's name is Cody, and dogs are her favourite animal," Alice said.

Surgical patient Nate voted for Charger "because it sounded like a really good police dog name".

Andrea Fuller, patron of the Dog and Mounted Command, said it was only fitting that the children from Sydney Children's Hospital named the new pups.

"These are some of the strongest and bravest children in our community, so it seems natural for them to be given the opportunity to name our newest frontline heroes," Mrs Fuller said.

Minister for Police and Emergency Services David Elliott, who we can only assume didn't get a vote given there's no Doggy McDogface on the list, said the pups would bolster police ranks.

"These pups represent the next generation of the Force's Police Dog team, one of the most highly-trained and respected in the world," Mr Elliott said.

"I join the children, who named the pups, in following the progress of the C-litter; I know they will achieve great things in the future."

NSW Police Dog and Mounted commander Superintendent Michael Rochester said the kids who chose the name had left a lasting mark on the unit.

"Unfortunately, this year the kids weren't able to meet the pups in person because of the pandemic, but we were very glad we could get them involved virtually," Superintendent Rochester said.

"If these pups are successful through their training, they'll go on to help the community in many ways. Our dogs are used to find missing people, assist in pursuits, detect drugs, explosives and other paraphernalia, and have a variety of other specialist functions which make them an invaluable law enforcement capability."

The dogs are being exposed to a variety of environments, part of their basic training. Police dogs are used to find explosives, detect human remains, find drugs or for general police work.

IN THE NEWS:

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: