‘Ecstatic’ to recover stolen goods
A DUNEDIN police officer says a raid this week which netted a massive haul of stolen goods is the highlight of her career.
Constable Kylie Batten, of Dunedin, was one of the officers who executed a search warrant at a house in Travis St, Brockville on Tuesday.
About 9.20am, a member of the armed offenders squad knocked on the door and was let in by the cooperative occupants who did not offer resistance, Const Batten said.
Once inside, Const Batten said her heart leapt when officers entered the property and discovered ‘‘pretty much every room’’ was jampacked with items taken during recent Dunedin burglaries, including jewellery, electronics, clothing, household items, two motorcycles, an electric bike, tools and more.
‘‘I was ecstatic. It’s definitely the most satisfying job I’ve been involved in.’’
As a member of the tactical crime unit, part of the Criminal Investigation Branch, Const Batten said she had been investigating about 12 city burglaries.
‘‘And the property has come from a lot of those.
‘‘Days like yesterday make up for the days and days where you’re getting nowhere and getting bagged.’’
The owners of some of the items had already been found, but the process of returning the goods had only just begun.
‘‘For me it’s all about getting the property back to the victims.
‘‘We’re going to spend days sorting through all this prop erty.
‘‘Then we have to try to identify it. There was a lot of really sentimental items and we’ve managed to locate a couple of their owners.
‘‘It’s just the best feeling in the world to ring up these people and say we’ve found it.’’
One item in particular stood out for Const Batten — a pocket watch owned by an elderly Dunedin man’s father.
Const Batten said the most surprising item taken was a large remotecontrol boat.
She had no idea why they had not sold the gear immediately.
‘‘I think everyone’s asking that question.
‘‘I expected it all to be gone. It usually is — people generally move things very quickly.
‘‘But for some reason, they’ve held on to all this stuff.’’
The owners of the burgled gear, much of which was jewellery, would be contacted in the coming weeks.
‘‘I couldn’t even estimate how many hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of jewellery we’ve had stolen recently.’’
‘‘And we have uncovered piles of jewellery yesterday.’’
As a result of Tuesday’s raid, two men, aged 28 and 40, were charged with burglary and firearms offences.