Stolen police car, man remains on run

A video of the theft is currently circulating on social media showing the brazen theft, after he was put in the car by an officer.

Police have confirmed a patrol car was stolen from under the nose of an officer after pulling over a vehicle in Hamilton.

A video of the theft is circulating on social media showing the brazen theft, after a man was put in the car by an officer.

The video was posted on the "Kiwi Az Bro" Facebook page about two hours ago and is already starting to go viral - being viewed more than 37,000 times and shared nearly 600 times and counting.

The phone video footage shows the police patrol car taking off at speed. The attending officer can only watch in horror.

The officer had pulled a car over and placed one of the occupants in the back seat of his car.

The post on the page says the incident occurred in Hamilton and states the man in the back seat jumps into the front, starts up the car and "boosts it".

After watching the patrol car speed off, the officer runs a few steps after the car before giving up. He turns around, gets the female driver out of the vehicle he had pulled over and jumps in to chase down the stolen patrol car.

Hamilton City Area Commander Inspector Greg Nicholls confirmed the incident took place on Clarkin Rd yesterday after the vehicle was stopped at 12.50pm.

The patrol car was discovered a short time later, however the alleged thief remains on the run.

"Whilst police were outside the vehicle the arrested man has climbed through from the back seat and driven off," Nicholls said in a statement.

"The taking of a police vehicle is a serious offence. Police know the identity of the offender and are following lines of inquiry to locate him."