Police dogs sniff out three suspects following car chase

Police dogs managed to track down three suspects within minutes of a stolen car being ditched in a field following a pursuit.

Road crime team officers activated their blue lights after catching up with a car that intelligence suggested was being driven on cloned plates.

Following that first sighting at around 8.10pm on Tuesday (8 August) on the A60 in Ruddington, the driver ignored orders to pull over and instead drove away at speed.

The car, which was reported as stolen from Leicestershire, then spent several minutes weaving in and out of traffic in a dangerous manner around the Ruschliffe area before heading towards Gotham – at one point clocking 90mph in a 40mph zone.

After breaking through roadworks in Clifton, the car knocked a fence over before driving across a farmer’s field in Barton, adjacent to the A453, where the vehicle was abandoned and the suspects fled on foot.

At that point, the dog unit was deployed to support the road crime and response officers in attendance, as a search was carried out of the surrounding land.

It didn’t take the specially trained police dogs long to sniff out three suspects, with one found hiding behind some hay bales and two more also discovered nearby within a couple of minutes of the search commencing.

An 18-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of dangerous driving and theft of a motor vehicle, while a 16-year-old boy was arrested on suspicion of dangerous driving, failing to stop, and theft of a motor vehicle.

Police also arrested another 18-year-old man on suspicion of theft of a motor vehicle.

Detective Sergeant Steve Willetts, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: “This was a great example of several of our teams working together to get a positive result, following what was an extremely dangerous piece of driving.

“Officers from our road crime, response, and wider Operational Support team all played their part in ensuring nobody was injured during this pursuit, which lasted for several minutes.

“When the occupants of the car involved in the incident then decamped and tried to make off on foot, our dog unit were then deployed and did a fantastic job of quickly locating three suspects, who were all arrested.

“It really should go without saying but there is absolutely no excuse for anyone to drive at speed or in a way that puts others in danger.

“Nottinghamshire Police will never tolerate this standard of driving on our roads, and anyone involved in this behaviour should expect to find themselves in trouble.”