Donation helps bid to create police dog sculpture in Glasgow’s Pollok Country Park

Miller Homes Scotland is showing its support to the Scottish Police Dog Memorial fund with a £500 donation to help create a sculpture dedicated to all police dogs throughout Scotland, past and present, in Glasgow’s Pollok Country Park.

Emma Ralton, development sales manager for the Stoneyetts Village development in Moodiesburn, North Lanarkshire, visited Police Scotland’s dog training centre in Pollok Country Park to see exactly where the memorial will be located. While there, PC Carrie-Ann McNab gave Emma a tour of the centre and introduced her to six-year-old German Shepherd, Bodie.

What will the sculpture be?

The sculpture of a Belgian Malinois police dog is being created by British sculptor John Doubleday, who has created artwork across the globe of famous Royals, musicians, and historical figures.

He also created the UK Police Dog memorial in Chelmsford, which is where Carrie-Ann originally got the idea.

Carrie-Ann has been a police officer for 16 years and joined the Police Dog unit eight years ago. She’s had Bodie since he was just a year old.

She said: “I was lucky enough to attend the unveiling of the UK memorial sculpture in Essex after helping them fundraise. Seeing how much it meant to the officers inspired me to try to do something specifically for Scotland’s police dogs. We’re extremely grateful for Miller Homes support, and their donation has given our fundraising efforts a huge boost and put us well on track for unveiling the memorial in autumn 2022.”

There are approximately 200 serving police dogs in Scotland across all serving constabularies: Police Scotland, Military Police, Transport Police and the Civil Nuclear constabulary. These highly trained dogs play a crucial role in local community police work, including finding missing persons, sniffing for drugs and weapons and catching criminals.

‘Supporting communities’

Peter Thomson, managing director of Miller Homes Scotland, said: “At Miller Homes, we are committed to supporting the good causes in the communities we build in.

“The important work Police dogs undertake is invaluable to our communities, and we’re delighted to contribute to this memorial which will help them be remembered and celebrated for their outstanding work. I look forward to seeing the finished sculpture in situ.”