The Sculpture
Essex artist and sculptor John Doubleday was commissioned to create a maquette so that people could see how the final sculpture would look. A graduate of Goldsmiths College, since his first show at the Waterhouse gallery in London in 1968.
John has enjoyed more than 30 one man exhibitions in Britain, America and the Continent and notably has created stunning sculptures of among others The Queen, Nelson Mandela and Lord Nelson. Mr Doubleday is so passionate about the memorial that he has pledged to donate 50% of his fee to the memorial.
The statue shows a Police Officer with a German Shepherd Dog and a Cocker Spaniel. The dogs are based on two retired Dogs; Karly (Metropolitan Police) and Ludo (Essex Police).
The handler is dressed in police number one uniform and is kneeling to show the mutual respect between handler and dog. More importantly, it draws the attention to the dogs.
The statue is approximately 2.5 metres high including the plinth.
The statue is sited in the grounds of Oaklands Park Museum.
Oaklands Park is a dog friendly location. We hope that members of the public, along with police handlers, will bring their dogs to see the statue.
There is also an exhibition in the museum that showcases how Police Dogs have developed in the UK from their introduction to modern day.
About Police Dog Ludo:
Ludo was donated by an incredibly kind family from Frinton on Sea, Essex, who really thought he should be better served working.
In September 2014 we traveled to Preston, Lancs., to complete our basic course. Along with Millie they were the first dogs of their type of specialisms in our region.
He quickly became used to his search name ‘Lu Lu’ despite the obvious sniggers from the accompanying search officers.
On his first missing person deployment, Ludo provided evidence that led the investigation team to discovering the missing person unfortunately deceased. Ludo has been involved in numerous high profile cases and was regularly called out and became an integral part of the investigation team and was a favourite to many hardened detectives.
He was also deployed extensively in the region, Beds/Herts/Kent to name a few and continued to show Essex Police and the Dog Section in such a positive light.
In retirement, he loves to race around the local fields with his best pals Fidge and Pads [pictured below] and he’s having to learn new skills and tricks in order to keep his incredibly active brain busy.
But his favourite spot is lying on the back of the sofa yes amazingly he has found the ability to lie still for more than 5 seconds.
By Paul Nicholls.
About Police Dog Karly:
Karly was always a wonderful character from the moment she caught the eye of the lovely kennel staff at the Metropolitan Police Dog Training Establishment. She was a lively puppy and in 2005 we completed our Basic Course. Throughout her brilliant career she was responsible for many arrests, detaining suspects, locating weapons following armed incidents and finding missing people
She excelled in her specialism of Victim Recovery and Blood Detection being responsible for locating bodies and blood. She enjoyed her fame in the last series of Send In The Dogs and loved visiting schools and clubs to meet children.
Karly was awarded a Commendation in 2014 by Cressida Dick for chasing and detaining a male who was wanted for serious offences including armed robbery. The male fought her and despite being injured she held onto him and we arrested him.
Whilst deployed in Machynlleth, Wales, Karly suffered from a torsion and after rushing her to the vets I carried her “lifeless” from the car in tears to be met by a team of Vets in Dolgellau.
The longest night followed as they fought to save her while I sat on the floor next to her throughout the surgery. She beat all the odds to recover and retired to me enjoying over two years of leisurely long walks and playing football with me. She always cheated and stole the ball!
Out of the blue one day she fell ill. I knew it was serious and lay with her in the garden comforting her and telling her how wonderful she was and talking to her about all the crazy stuff we had got up to. Later that day she fell asleep in my arms. I was so honoured to have worked with her and have her in my life.
My friend. My hero.
By Mandy Chapman.