I was West Midlands Police's first female dog handler - we caught two burglars on our first shift

Elizabeth Dixon has shared the story of how she became West Midlands Police's first ever female dog handler.

Joining West Midlands Police

Elizabeth joined West Midlands Police in 1973 at the age of 20, as a Woman Police Constable (WPC) for Birmingham City Police.

Despite facing initial setbacks, including rejection by Warwickshire Police due to quotas on female officers, Elizabeth's determination and perseverance led to her success.

She credits her time in the police with teaching her valuable skills and the strength to overcome challenges.

Selected for dog handling training

 A highlight of Elizabeth's career was being selected for dog handling training - breaking into a unit that had previously been an all-male department.

She vividly recalls the outdated uniform requirements, where women were expected to wear skirts even in operational roles, and were issued batons half the size of those given to male colleagues.

Partnered with German Shepherd Czar

In 1979, she was partnered with Czar, a German Shepherd general-purpose police dog.

Together they formed a successful team, undertaking a range of duties including patrols, building and missing person searches, and public order support. 

Initially, Elizabeth faced scepticism, but her skills and Czar's abilities soon earned recognition.

They started as they meant to go on with a successful first shift where they found two burglars in a pitch-black scrapyard in the Tyseley area of Birmingham.

Elizabeth Dixon said: “Czar came from a family in Northampton. He was donated to West Midlands Police when he was five months old. I went off on a training course with him, it was just what I wanted to do. I was one of the first dog handlers to be trained in Birmingham, the kennels were at Harborne.

“Having done the training, you’re then not too sure whether the training was really ever going to work, was he going to catch burglars? Was he going to be able to search and do what I trained?

“On the first set of nights that we worked, we found some burglars in a scrapyard in Tyseley, pitch black, great big scrapyard, couldn’t see him. I sent him off searching and he barked to indicate he’d found somebody and two arrests were made, great success and I was happy, the shift was happy, we were all happy and I got on and just did the job really.”