When police officer David Raymond walked into the darkness hunting a killer, he often had just one partner besides him, a partner who couldn’t speak but whose instincts David trusted with his life. For 26 years, David worked with police dogs in Far North Queensland. But one dog would come to define his career: Vader, a jet-black German Shepherd who tracked killers, confronted armed offenders, searched for the missing and helped save lives. In this episode of Real Crime, David Raymond takes us inside the extraordinary world of police dog operations: the danger, the humour, the psychological toll and the remarkable bond that develops when a man and a dog repeatedly walk into danger together.

It’s a story about courage, loyalty and an almost instinctive trust between two partners and the heartbreaking reality that even the strongest partnerships eventually come to an end.

David Raymond and Vader: a police officer, a police dog, and the unbreakable bond that brought them both home.