A cops dog handler who launched his dog on 2 youths, leading to one needing medical facility treatment, has actually been cleared of misdeed by the Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA).
Three teenagers aged in between 14 and 15 were apprehended for attempting to take a car in New Plymouth in February 2021.
The officer found the youths in a car with a smashed window less than 100m from where another car had actually been abandoned.
Two of them got away the vehicle, one suffering a 3cm cut after the dog was set upon them.
In the report, an officer associated with the event explained his station as being “under siege”, with 150 reports of illegal taking of, or disturbance with, lorries in the New Plymouth and Waitara location in between November 2020 and April 2021.
“It began in about November 2020 – several lorries were getting taken in a shift. We could not handle the volume of vehicles being taken and we could not even go to the majority of the tasks.”
In his finding, Judge Colin Doherty said the boost in vehicle thefts in the location differentiated the case from other circumstances of car theft.
“This appears to have actually been an uncommon incident where authorities had the chance to capture youths in the procedure of dedicating an offense of this class, and for this factor we discovered that the officer’s release of his dog on 2 transgressors was warranted,” he said.
Police accepted the findings of the report.
