Sergeant Sue Burridge with operational police dog South. Photo / Paul Brooks
Sergeant Sue Burridge is a writer of stories. She has written two books, but her office and the source of her inspiration is in a police dog van: Sue is O/C Whanganui Dog Section.
Write what you know, she was told. So she did.
Her first book, The Adventures of Police Dog Zeus, was published in 2014 by Blue Light NZ and sponsored by Jimbo’s Pet Food. Sue was stationed in Wellington at the time.
“My grandfather was a great storyteller. He used to tell us about this whale called ‘Pinky’, so I thought I could maybe write that story.”
She found it wasn’t working, so Sue enrolled in a weekend writing workshop, and says she came away from that with some tips and skills.
“Then, I was talking to a friend and she said, ‘Write about something you know’. Well, I know about dogs, so I started writing.”
She showed the story to some friends who had children, and they had some ideas on how to improve it and pointed out a few things their kids didn’t understand.
“I made the changes that the kids suggested: they’re the audience, aren’t they?” Sue then took it to a school in Paraparaumu where she knew one of the teachers. The children there had some questions and suggestions which helped Sue polish the writing a little further. She did the same with her second book, The Adventures of Police Dog Ace, published in 2017.
She had adults proofread for grammar and punctuation, but children provided an honest assessment of the content.
“It’s quite cool and very humbling; so that’s my process.”
The dogs in her books have one consistent handler, Maddy, inevitably based on Sue. Her boss at the time, Mark Davidson, was instrumental in getting the first book published.
“Mark believed in me and supported me. I wouldn’t be where I am without him.”
Sue joined the police in 1999 in Wairoa on the east coast.
“I’m from there, so I did a couple of years there, then applied for what was then called the Diplomatic Protection Squad in Wellington.” She did a couple of years there, but she really joined with the aim of becoming a dog handler.
Sue then moved to a three-person station in Featherston, by which time she had started fostering dogs for Dog Section.
“That’s part of the process. If you want to become a dog handler, you need to foster puppies — it shows you have the ability to bond with a dog and that you are able to listen to instructions. So, if someone’s telling you what you need to do to train that pup, then you have the goods to actually listen.”
Eventually, Sue became a dog handler in Upper Hutt Wellington Dog Section, a role she held from 2005 to 2018. Her first dog was Demon, a German shepherd.
“He was amazing. He was my first ‘serious’ dog, because we were learning a lot together. We had a pretty cool career, but it was cut short when he was retired at six and a half [years old].
“I did frontline policing and Armed Offenders Squad with him.”
She got a pup called Ultra and worked with him for a year, but he wasn’t suitable and became a family’s pet.
Then along came Hades. “I picked this dog up and after the first week, I fell in love with him.
“I worked him from just over two [years of age] until he was nine and a half. He was 33 kilograms, small and compact. I’d learned my trade by then: I was comfortable with what I did, we worked well and gelled as a team and it was a lot of fun. I went to the Police Dog Nationals with him.”
They were also on TV — Dog Squad and Women in Blue.
“We had some incredible adventures together.” Sadly, Hades died in 2017 after being diagnosed with cancer.
Sue received sympathy cards and flowers from colleagues and people around the country who had seen the Sue Burridge and Hades team on TV. There was even a short clip on the six o’clock news.
“It was an honour that he was so well-regarded by the public.
“We did frontline, search and rescue and victim recovery together, plus a lot of stuff outside of that.”
After a short time with a bitch called Fox, Sue took a promotion and moved to the Dog Training Centre for two and a half years.
“It was fun, I learned a lot and trained a lot of people, but I realised my heart is in frontline policing.
“That’s my happy place - I get to work with some amazing boys and girls on the frontline.”
An opportunity to head Whanganui Dog Section came up.
“I applied, got the job and I’ve been here ever since. I’ve got cool, dedicated staff; I’ve got my own operational police dog.” Her dog is a German shepherd called South.
After a long break between books, book number three is in the pipeline, in which she will continue the adventures of Police Dog Ace, using Whanganui, or someplace similar, as the setting.
“That’s one of the things for this year: making time to finish book number three.” Although her original intention was to write just one book, the ideas keep coming and so do the books, but she thinks the third might be it.
Sue finds it easiest to write her stories in pencil in an exercise book. A pencil and exercise book are essential parts of her luggage whenever she’s away. She mind-maps ideas and lets the stories develop as she writes. It’s an organic process.
“For me, it works.”
Her books are illustrated by a police colleague in Palmerston North, Stephen Guy.
The targeted age group is for kids from six to nine, but adults will also enjoy Sue’s books.
“I’ve dedicated the books to my dogs, but also all police dogs present and past.”
At the moment, the books are available at the Munro Canteen at the Royal New Zealand Police College in Wellington, www.thecopshop.nz and at Unity Books in Wellington.