CANINE crime-fighters have taken to new technology – and are embracing the world of social networking.

North Yorkshire Police’s dog section performs some vital roles and the animals are a major asset in the continuing fight against crime.

And now they are encouraging the world to follow their exploits – by taking to Twitter.

Dog Handler PC Scott Nixon said: “We’re using Twitter to help keep people informed of our work and to give them an insight into the role of the dog section.

“Our dogs provide invaluable assistance in a variety of policing situations. They are also very popular with members of the public.

“We’ll be tweeting about new recruits, training and ongoing jobs around York and North Yorkshire.

“We’ve had a great response so far with over 600 followers in the first few days of tweeting.”

The force has 35 police dogs from general purpose to specialist search animals.

Among their many and varied tasks, police dogs help the police to apprehend suspects, find missing people, control public order situations, sniff out items such as explosives and drugs and search for evidence to help bring offenders to justice.

And a team of North Yorkshire dogs carried out important tasks at the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, keeping the games safe and secure by daily searches at the main venues.

To keep track of the canine crime-fighters follow @NYPDogSection