KEY POINTS:
An eagle-eyed boy with a love of detective stories has been thanked by the police for helping to catch three burglars by noting carefully what each was wearing.
Daniel King, 11, did not think much of it when he first saw three teenagers on his West Auckland street in July.
But his suspicions were aroused when he saw them coming out of his elderly neighbours' house with a stereo and air guns.
He took careful note of what they were wearing - in such detail that it astonished a detective - and told his mother to call the police.
The trio were arrested soon after the police arrived, when Daniel saw them walking back down his street.
Yesterday Daniel took time off from Rutherford Primary School to receive a certificate of appreciation at the annual Waitakere Police Awards.
Detective Sergeant Murray Free said he had thought at first that Daniel's description was aided by a fertile imagination.
"Daniel gave us so much detail that we thought he was making it up. But everything he said was spot on. He had descriptions of their tops, bottoms, shoes, hats all perfectly correct for all three people. That's quite hard to do."
Daniel's suspicions were possibly prompted by his fondness for mystery books - Donald J. Sobol's Encyclopedia Brown: Boy Detective series is a favourite.
Waitakere area commander Inspector Mark O'Connor said neighbours reporting suspicious actions were one of the best ways to catch burglars.
The awards also recognised Ritchie Tiedemann, 17, and Palemia Leota, 21, who caught a man who had assaulted an elderly woman in her home, and Steve Robinson, who helped police officers struggling to arrest a violent offender.
