Finn (dog)

Finn is a German Shepherd and retired police dog of the Hertfordshire Constabulary in England. In October 2016, Finn and his handler confronted a youth who was suspected of being armed; the dog was stabbed and the police officer injured to the hand with a large knife. The dog required emergency surgery, but he returned to duty eleven weeks later. The case received widespread media coverage and initiated a popular campaign to improve legal protection for animals in public service, resulting in a 2019 act of parliament known as "Finn's Law".

Finn
Other name(s)Cutter (litter name)[1][2]
SpeciesDog
BreedGerman Shepherd
SexMale
BornMarch 2009 (age 11)
Balsall Common, West Midlands, England
OccupationGeneral purpose police dog
EmployerBedfordshire, Cambridgeshire & Hertfordshire Police Dog Unit (retired)
OwnerPC Dave Wardell
AwardsPDSA Gold Medal
2017 IFAW Animal of the Year Award

The incident

On 5 October 2016, Finn's handler, PC Dave Wardell, operating with the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire Police Dog Unit, was called to an incident in Stevenage where there was a search for a male suspect, believed to be armed. PC Wardell and Finn located the suspect who ran off.[3] After a shouted warning, PC Wardell released Finn and the dog seized the youth's leg as he was attempting to escape over a fence. Falling on the ground together, the suspect stabbed the dog in the chest with a large knife, before making a second attack in which he slashed the dog's head and PC Wardell's hand.[4] Despite this, Finn retained his grip on the suspect, enabling PC Wardell to disarm the youth. When other officers arrived, Finn was taken to a veterinarian and then on to a specialist where he received emergency surgery in which part of his lung was removed. PC Wardell later received medical treatment for a hand injury. Fortunately for PC Wardell this was a superficial injury with no long lasting effects on his hand.[5]

Finn recovered from the attack and returned to duty eleven weeks later, before retiring due to age, shortly before his eighth birthday in March 2017.[6] In May 2017 at Stevenage Youth Court, a 16 year-old boy from Lewisham in south London was convicted of assault occasioning actual bodily harm for the attack on PC Wardell, but could only be convicted of criminal damage for stabbing the dog. Although, he was convicted Criminal Damage (over £5000) this actually gave higher sentencing guidelines for the courts when passing sentence to the defendant. In the circumstances a sensible decision made by the investigating officer and CPS.[3] He was later sentenced to eight months' detention in a Young Offender Institution.[7]

"Finn's Law"

Finn's case highlighted the limited legal sanctions available against those who injure animals being used by the emergency services. An online petition on the UK Parliament petitions website for a "Finn's Law" attracted more than 127,000 signatures, resulting in the Sentencing Council recommending that in future, similar events should be treated as an "aggravated offence" rather than criminal damage. However, Finn For Change Member of Parliament, Sir Oliver Heald, with Dave Wardell and Finn as mascots took the matter further by proposing a private member's bill, the Animal Welfare (Service Animals) Bill, which was debated in the House of Commons on 5 December 2017.[8] The bill, which was introduced to the House of Commons on 13 June 2018, provided:

"...for increased protection for service animals by amending section 4 of the Animal Welfare Act 2006 (the “2006 Act”) [and also] addresses public concerns about attacks on service animals, where a defendant accused of causing unnecessary suffering to an animal could claim they were protecting themselves and are justified in using physical force against a service animal."

The bill completed all the parliamentary stages and received Royal Assent on 8 April 2019 as the Animal Welfare (Service Animals) Act 2019.[9] and came into force in June 2019.[10] In September 2019, Nicola Sturgeon, the First Minister of Scotland, announced that a new Animal Welfare Bill, incorporating "Finn's Law", would be part of the new programme of legislation to be introduced into the Scottish Parliament.[11] On the 10 February 2020, a motion was put forward through the Northern Ireland Assembly to incorporate "Finn's Law" to Northern Ireland under its own animal welfare laws. The motion was passed unanimously, and was passed to the Northern Irish Agricultural minister Edwin Poots.[12]

Recognition

In October 2017, Finn was awarded the International Fund for Animal Welfare "Animal of the Year Award" in a ceremony at the House of Lords.[13] In May 2018, Finn was awarded the PDSA Gold Medal "for life-saving devotion to duty, despite being grievously injured while preventing a violent criminal from evading arrest",[14] at the charity's music festival at Cheltenham Racecourse, which was the first time the award had been presented at a public ceremony.[15] In March 2019, Finn was awarded the Kennel Club's "Friends for Life" prize at the annual Crufts dog show at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham.[16]

In the spring of 2019, Dave Wardell and Finn participated in the television talent show, Britain's Got Talent, with a mind-reading act which took them to the final and prompted an emotional response from the judges.[17]

Thin Blue Paw Foundation

In May 2020 Finn together with the Wardell family started up the charity the Thin Blue Paw Foundation,[18] an organisation to help support retired police dogs once they have left their role a working police dogs.[19] This is for primarily aimed at the other 35 territorial and specialist constabularies, that don’t have their own retired police dog charities like in Finn's home constabulary of Hertfordshire. In starting up the charity, the charity had a backlash from other retired police dog charities like the Essex Retired Police Dogs Fund which deals with retired dogs from Essex Police accusing the Thin Blue Paw of divesting support from their charity work.[20]

References
  1. Note: A litter name is a temporary name that is give a puppy from a litter, to identify which litter it came from. Usually each puppy is given a name with the same first letter as all the others in the litter. For Finn's litter, they all started with the letter "C".
  2. Wardell, Dave (2018). Fabulous Finn. Quercus. p. 63. ISBN 9781786489067.
  3. Elvery, Martin (11 May 2017). "Lewisham teenager found guilty of stabbing police dog Finn and injuring handler PC Dave Wardell in Stevenage". www.thecomet.net. Archant Community Media Ltd. Retrieved 27 September 2018.
  4. Polianskya, Alina (28 January 2018). "Police officer describes moment dog fought to protect him despite being stabbed with '10-inch knife'". www.independent.co.uk. Independent Digital News & Media. Retrieved 27 September 2018.
  5. Burchell, Helen (11 May 2017). "Police dog Finn: The attack that almost killed a 'hero'". www.bbc.co.uk. BBC News. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  6. "Stabbed police dog Finn to retire". www.bbc.co.uk. BBC News. 31 Mar 2017. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  7. "Police dog Finn stabbing: Boy detained". www.bbc.co.uk. BBC News. 7 June 2017. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  8. Mohan-Hickson, Matthew (30 November 2017). "Parliament to debate Finn's Law to give extra protection to service animals next week". www.hertfordshiremercury.co.uk. Hertfordshire Mercury. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  9. "Royal Assent: Finn's Law". www.parliament.uk. UK Parliament. April 2019. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  10. "Police dog Finn's law comes into force". www.bbc.co.uk. BBC News. 8 June 2019. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  11. "Police dog Finn's law to be implemented in Scotland". www.bbc.co.uk. BBC News. 7 September 2019. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  12. "Motion: Abuse of Service Animals - Monday 10 February 2020". NI Assembly TV. 2020-02-10. Retrieved 2020-02-26.
  13. "Stabbed police dog Finn named IFAW 'animal of the year'". www.bbc.co.uk. BBC News. 17 October 2017. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  14. "PDSA Gold Medal". www.pdsa.org.uk. The People's Dispensary for Sick Animals. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  15. Winter, Stuart (15 March 2018). "Hero police dog Finn awarded the animals' George Cross for saving handler's life". www.express.co.uk. Express Newspapers. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  16. "Crufts 2019: Stabbed police dog Finn and handler scoop prize". www.bbc.co.uk. BBC News. 11 March 2019. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  17. Baker, Emily (27 May 2019). "Britain's Got Talent finalist Finn the police dog shares the stage with puppies as Simon gets emotional again". metro.co.uk. Associated Newspapers Limited. Retrieved 6 December 2019.
  18. "Thin Blue Paw Foundation". Thin Blue Paw Foundation. Retrieved 2020-08-26.
  19. "About Us". Thin Blue Paw Foundation. Retrieved 2020-08-26.
  20. "Press Statement". Essex Retired Police Dog Fund. Retrieved 2020-08-26.

Further reading
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