A POLICE officer’s work is never done, as off-duty dog handler PC Cindy Hargreave found out in Calne, when she donned her wellies and tracked down a suspected burglar with the help of her German Shepard, Tyke.

The 44-year-old was driving home from Wiltshire Police Headquarters in Devizes with the four-year-old dog, when the duo were called into action after reports were made of a man acting suspiciously on Buzzard Road around cars and having entered a house.

“I’d been to pick up some food for Tyke from the station and was using the police van to transport him home when I heard over the radio there had been a suspected burglary,” said PC Hargreave, who has been a dog handler for three-and-a-half years.

“I called the control room and they said a firearms unit was coming out from Devizes but I was at Compton Basset which was literally five minutes away so I went to the address.

“It was a hard surface track, in fields and grass it’s a lot easier because the moisture and footprint make it easier than on concrete so that was extra special for me that Tyke tracked him down.

“I wasn’t in uniform, I’d put a black coat on and I was wearing wellies so when we found him [the suspect] I had to tell him I was a police officer but the firearms unit got there just after I’d stopped him.”

The man, aged 21, from Chippenham, was arrested on suspicion of burglary and possession of a class A drug and has since been released on bail pending further inquiries.

He was tracked from Buzzard Road to Duncan Street and on to Hungerford Road by PC Hargreave and Tyke last Friday at 4.30pm, where they found a broken aerial from a vehicle parked near the incident and the suspect’s hoodie behind a wall in a nearby garden.

PC Hargreave has worked with Tyke since he was 18-months-old and have formed a special bond.

“It’s a massive bond between me and Tyke, he stays at my house in a kennel and every day I go to work he comes with me so we’re together pretty much 24/7,” she said.

“I’m a single crew officer and he is my colleague and my back up.

“Because I’m a dog handler I do get sent to those high level jobs and he's my eyes and ears.

“He’s actually very sociable, he can switch between the two levels and he’s done school visits and can be a little bit goofy.”

Any witnesses to the incident who have not already spoken to police, can call 101, or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 where information can be left anonymously if preferred.