Residents saw RCMP officers and a police dog going through properties in the Maplewood Street and Northview Crescent area of Steinbach Wednesday.

According to police, Steinbach RCMP, in conjunction with the RCMP police dog service, were conducting a training day. Steinbach has had an operational police service dog and dog master for more than five years now. They say that during that time there has been an outpouring of community support.

Police say it is essential for all police dogs to continue to train in all environments, temperatures and ground surfaces. This often includes simulating the tracking of subjects who have fled from crime scenes in urban, suburban and rural areas. Often, the carefully planned training tracks in residential areas will meander through front and back yards of residences, or business properties, parks or parking lots. Police dogs require constant and ongoing familiarization with all areas that they may have to perform their work so that they can confidently perform their job; this includes locating persons and protecting loved ones. In order to simulate these events, police may periodically enter onto, and walk across or through properties. Police will always be in uniform or have identifiable markings indicating their employment with the RCMP. If you see any suspicious activity where individuals do not appear as police officers you are asked to contact your local RCMP detachment.

The RCMP say they are so thankful for the overwhelming support and cooperation of the community in developing and maintaining the operational abilities of police dogs. As a result of ongoing training, the police dog section has had success in the community of Steinbach and has apprehended many high profile criminals, assisted with finding missing persons and contributed to community safety.

Police say that throughout the training today Wednesday, many people stopped to talk, ask questions and find out what RCMP were doing in their neighbourhood. RCMP say they welcome this positive interaction and took the opportunity to speak with a youth who was interested in the training process and with several homeowners in the area.

They say another positive byproduct of the training is the increase in police presence in the community. Although the RCMP understand that it is not always feasible to speak with everyone prior to walking on personal or commercial property the police dog section and other RCMP officers involved in the training are very approachable and would love to have a conversation when time permits. While the police dog is working it is imperative that the dog master and the police dog remain focused on the simulated task at hand, however, if at any time residents are concerned or have a question, they should not hesitate to ask.

Steinbach RCMP have one potential police service dog in training at this time, who will be seen with his handler at many businesses, out on walks around town, and in local schools. Steinbach and the surrounding rural municipalities have helped to build and imprint five potential police service dogs, three of which are currently serving communities across Canada on Vancouver Island, and in Manitoba in the Northern Thompson Community.