Dogged determination pays off during track

The Oxford English Dictionary describes the word ‘quest’ as to “go in search of or for something” – and that’s exactly what Dunedin Police dog Quest did during a recent robbery after he gave his handler the slip.

Dunedin Emergency Response Manager, Inspector Alastair Dickie, describes what unfolded.

At approximately 2100 hours on Friday 11 April, the Mornington Night n’ Day was allegedly robbed by two offenders, one carrying a knife.

They made off with a quantity of cash and other items into Dunedin’s large Town Belt bush area. Two dog teams were called in with Police patrols cordoning the area.

Over the course of one-and-a-half hours, the two suspects were apprehended, one at a cordon and the other in a rather unusual manner.

One of the Police dogs, Quest, gave his handler the slip and decided to go it alone.

He tracked and found the alleged offender who later reported that when he ran, the dog tackled him on three occasions, so he decided walking might be a better option. He tried that and Quest simply shadowed him, keeping him in check along the way.

The situation came to a conclusion with the young man trapped at the top of a cliff while Quest happily waited at the bottom in babysitting mode until the man made the next move.

After a longish wait, the suspect sent a text to someone to help him out of his predicament, as Quest wasn’t letting him go anywhere.

Police happily responded and Quest was returned to the station to complete his paperwork, receive a well-earned dog biscuit and forgiveness from his handler, Senior Constable Phil Clark.

All the property was recovered.

Alastair says Phil and Quest have been very successful as a team with some very good apprehensions during the past year. This was the first time Quest decided to “fly solo.”