Jock Robson chased a thief. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Jock Robson chased a thief. Photo / Michael Cunningham
A young Whangarei man carrying out what he considered the "heist of the century" didn't plan on encountering 72-year-old super sleuth Jock.
Duncan "Jock" Robson, a retired policeman, happened to be near the Kensington Liquorland on Kensington Ave when a teenage male ran out of the shop clutching a largebottle of spirits about 1.55pm on Monday. He heard a woman yell out an expletive at the fleeing thief.
With 28 years policing under his belt - 18 of them in Whangarei and the rest in Britain - instinct kicked in and Mr Robson gave chase.
"He was going like a rocket. I was right behind him for 0.1 of a second," Mr Robson laughed.
He saw the thief head down an alleyway and pointed two other men, including an off-duty police officer, in the right direction.
Mr Robson, who turns 73 next Monday, said the bottle of Jack Daniels was recovered but the teenager managed to escape. He was last seen heading north on the railway tracks. He was wearing a blue and white checked shirt and grey tracksuit pants.
Outside the liquor store, a cellphone belonging to the fleeing thief was discovered and a quick look through the text conversations on the phone revealed there had been some planning. The teenager had discussed with another person how they were going to carry out the "heist of the century".
Mr Robson said during his days walking the beat in Whangarei's central city mall as the community cop he had caught hundreds of shoplifters.
He reckons he still gets recognised by people he has helped, as well as those he had arrested in the past.
"There is no hard feeling if you treat people fairly."
After retiring from the police, he worked as a private investigator for three years.
And while he may have resorted to instinct on Monday, Mr Robson prefers not to watch police programmes on television and instead spends a fair amount of time on the bowling greens at Onerahi.
