Auckland based police dog Aster made the most of his last two days on the job before his retirement when he assisted in the arrest of four young burglars and car thieves this morning.
The four had broken into a liquor store at the corner of St Vincent Avenue and Remuera Road at about 1.00am. At 1.30am they were seen driving in a stolen Subaru station wagon by Aster’s handler, Constable Kelvin Roberts. The vehicle had earlier been taken from Kelston.
The vehicle sped off as Constable Roberts attempted to speak to the driver and a short pursuit followed until the vehicle was spiked on Remuera Road and dumped in a nearby street.
Aster and Kelvin were close enough behind the slowing vehicle to quickly discourage the four offenders from running from the scene and held them until the arrival of other police units.
Inspector Brooker of the Auckland Central Station praised the actions of the pair saying that the combination of good intuition in spotting the suspicious actions of the group and the effective deployment of the dog lead to a copy book apprehension. Police had been unaware of the smash and grab at the liquor store and it was only when unopened bottles of spirits were found in the stolen car that a burglary was suspected. The burglary was discovered by the same dog unit during follow-up patrols.