West Midlands Police dog joins Twitter!

Sep 5 2010 by Jonny Greatrex, Sunday Mercury

A CRIME-fighting police sniffer dog is set to become an internet scent-sation after starting his own Twitter page.

Smithy the two-year-old black Labrador is used by West Midlands officers to detect blood or human remains.

The CSI-style pooch is, of course, following in the rich tradition of other crime-fighting dogs – including Scooby-Doo and Deputy Dawg.

Now Smithy has gone global by starting his own page on the Twitter social networking site, where he muses about his life,as well as keeping followers updated on cases.

His tweets have ranged from telling fans about his morning walks with six-year-old partner Drake, to appeals for information about crimes.

“Just been out for a morning walk with my handler and my partner, Police Dog Drake,’’ read one message. ‘‘Feet up till late shift... 3pm till 11pm.”

Other more serious tweets involve live cases, including the suspected murder of Lichfield factory worker Sylwia Ciapcinska. The 24 year-old was last seen on July 20 while shopping in Burton upon Trent.

Her flatmate, Tomasz Sobazak, has been charged with her murder.

Smithy had been called in to search for Sylwia’s body and a tweet read: “We have been assisting Staffordshire Police over recent weeks, I have searched numerous areas. Can you help to find Sylwia?”