The Arrecife Local Police headquarters hosted this Tuesday, for the first time, an advanced course aimed at training police guides and guide dogs belonging to the Local Police force of the Canary Islands and the General Police force of the Canary Islands.
Agents from ten municipalities of the Canary Islands have participated in this course taught by the Academy of the General Directorate of Security and Emergencies of the Government of the Canary Islands and the collaboration of the Arrecie City Council and the Local Police of this city of Arrecife.
The mayor of Arrecife, Yonathan de León, host of these Canary police delegations, "is pleased that for the first time Lanzarote is hosting this training where the Arrecife Police stands out for its modernization and advanced equipment." In addition, the mayor stressed that "this advanced course has coincided with the celebration of the first twenty years of presence of the Canine Unit of the Local Police of Arrecife, which has contributed great success to police investigations in the prevention and control of drug use and sale in several areas of Arrecife."
This course has allowed attendees to improve their knowledge in the search and arrest of narcotic substances in people in motion and in authorized places, and education versus training, because as stated by the speakers, "educating a dog is not the same as training."
Agents from the General Corps of the Canary Police and the Local Police of San Bartolomé de Tirajana, PL Santa Cruz de Tenerife, San Cristóbal de La Laguna, La Oliva, Santa Cruz de La Palma, Granadilla, Arona, Yaiza and the Local Police Corps of Arrecife, whose Canine Unit is among the oldest in the Canary Islands, have participated in this course.
The training has been given by instructors Yeray Mesa, assigned to the Canine Unit of the Local Police of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, since 2026, and is also an instructor of canine guides of the National Association of Canine Guides of Local Police of Spain.
The other prominent instructor, originally from the island of Lanzarote and resident in Madrid, has been César Arroyo, champion of the Spanish Obedience Cup (OCI) in 2016, 2019, 2022 and 2023. And he has participated in the Obedience World Cup, where he is a world reference in this technique.
Mayor Yonathan de Leon, as the direct head of the Local Police of Arrecife, stressed "the good police successes of the Canine Unit of Arrecife that has allowed the identification and arrest of several 'dealers' as a result of the special police deployments carried out in recent months in several sensitive areas of the capital of Lanzarote."
