Northland police dog duo named best rookie crime-fighters

Constable Elyse Lewis and her police dog Mist have been named best rookie crime fighting team in the country. Photo / Michael Cunningham

Constable Elyse Lewis and her canine charge Mist are the best in the business.

That's good news for Northland police and bad news for the region's criminals.

The Northland crime-fighting duo have been awarded the Erridge Cup - an accolade for the best-performing rookie dog and handler in the country during their first year of operational service.

The Erridge Cup is only awarded when there is an officer worthy of the trophy and is not handed out every year. Dog Section supervisors around the country submit nominations for the award, with the selection made by supervisors and senior dog training staff at their yearly conference.

But for Ms Lewis the trophy has always been in her sights.

"My goal when I became operational was to get that award so I'm stoked to get it."

Ms Lewis is only the fifth female dog handler in the history of New Zealand Police and one of two currently working in New Zealand.

She spent nine years as a frontline officer in Whangarei before chasing her dream of becoming a dog handler.

The duo became operational in November 2015, working initially in Dunedin as part of the Southern District before transferring back "home" in Whangarei where Ms Lewis created history becoming the region's first female dog handler.

The canine fighting unit hit the ground running in Northland and in their first year in the district had 45 crime catches, resulting in 55 offenders being caught and 95 offences cleared.

They are also skilled in search and rescue and victim recovery work, and helped find the body of a missing person in the Far North.

When not on the frontline they have engaged in community and prevention events, including school visits and recruitment seminars.

"Mist is such a level-headed dog. She can switch in and out of business mode pretty quickly. With the students and rest home visits she's real passive and lets them pat her."

Ms Lewis has also been involved with the foster pups programme in Northland, taking in police dog pups and socialising them until their first training course.

One of the team's first catches in Northland involved three juvenile offenders who carried out an aggravated robbery of a service station, taking the cash register. All three had weapons - a knife, metal bar and a hammer.

As the first on scene, Ms Lewis cast Mist who picked up a scent and tracked behind a nearby business, finding two of the three males. The duo then tracked the third man to a house.

To complete the job, Mist also sniffed out the missing cash register which had been thrown into nearby bushes.