Durham search dog True is joining a new police program designed to find missing and vulnerable people, with training that also supports searches for human remains.
Durham Regional Police Service announced the addition of the German Shorthaired Pointer on October 28. True will work within its new Search and Rescue/Human Remains Detection K9 Program, expanding the specialist resources available to officers across the region.
A search role focused on finding people
Police say True will primarily help locate missing children, vulnerable and elderly people, and non-violent people experiencing a mental health crisis. He can also assist in searches for people who are injured, lost or disoriented and unable to make their way back to safety independently.
The Durham search dog has been trained to follow human scent across different environments and surfaces. That ability can help a search team locate someone or establish the direction in which they travelled.
His work is not limited to following a trail. According to the police service, True can detect objects or evidence carrying human scent and search large outdoor areas. Those searches can involve both directions from his handler and independent searching techniques.
A passive response when someone is found
When True locates a person, he is trained to stay with them and alert his handler by sitting and barking until the handler arrives. Police describe this as a passive response suited to circumstances in which apprehension is neither needed nor appropriate.
That distinction is central to the role announced by DRPS: the dog is being added as a resource for finding people who may need help, rather than treating every search as an attempt to apprehend someone. The service says the response is intended to minimize the potential for injury to the person being located.
True’s human-remains-detection training will provide another resource for searches and investigations. The announcement does not connect his arrival with any particular missing-person case or investigation.
New addition to the Canine Unit
True was born in Germany on June 29, 2025, and was specifically selected and trained for search-and-rescue work, according to DRPS. The police service describes his arrival as an investment in public safety and an expansion of the Canine Unit’s search capabilities.
The release lists human scent tracking, evidence detection, open-area searching and human remains detection among his current skills. It does not provide a program budget or a deployment schedule.
Outside his training and work, True enjoys hiking and playing with a ball, the service says. Daily Durham also reported the new addition on October 28.
