Police dog at the Police Dog Training Centre Photo: RNZ / Diego Opatowski
A police dog handler who released his dog on two young people, resulting in one requiring hospital treatment, has been cleared of wrongdoing by the Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA).
Three adolescents aged between 14 and 15 were arrested for trying to steal a car in New Plymouth in February 2021.
The officer discovered the young people in a car with a smashed window less than 100m from where another car had been abandoned.
Two of them fled the vehicle, one suffering a 3cm cut after the dog was set upon them.
In the report, an officer involved in the incident described his station as being "under siege", with 150 reports of unlawful taking of, or interference with, vehicles in the New Plymouth and Waitara area between November 2020 and April 2021.
"It kicked off in about November 2020 - multiple vehicles were getting stolen in a shift. We couldn't cope with the volume of cars being stolen and we couldn't even attend most of the jobs."
In his finding, Judge Colin Doherty said the increase in vehicle thefts in the area distinguished the case from other instances of car theft.
"This appears to have been a rare occurrence where police had the opportunity to catch young people in the process of committing an offence of this class, and for this reason we found that the officer's release of his dog on two offenders was justified," he said.
Police accepted the findings of the report.
