Barrie Police canine Thor capped a multi-jurisdictional manhunt that ended a southern Ontario bank robbery spree, including two recent hold-ups in Barrie.
The handsome working dog tailed two suspects and cornered them for officers who made the arrests on Tuesday night.
"He tracked them and did very good police dog work," said Barrie Police media officer Const. Nicole Rodgers.
A 16-year-old Sarnia male and a 24-year-old Alberta man are charged in robberies at the Scotiabank on Bayfield Street on Jan. 6 as well as the CIBC robbery that occurred on Jan. 11 on Mapleview Drive West.
Police say the pair is also suspected in other bank robberies in York and Peel Regions and Toronto.
The investigation involving several police forces culminated this week when sharp-eyed Barrie patrol officers spotted a stolen van detectives had red-flagged as possibly being linked to the hold-ups.
Police had received a tip about a potentially suspicious vehicle after one of the robberies.
The tipster thought the grey Honda Odyssey "was a little bit odd," according to Rodgers.
Then Barrie officers learned from South Simcoe Police that such a vehicle had been stolen from that region the day before the second bank robbery on Jan. 11.
The detectives started to connect the dots and the investigation took off from there.
"Detectives went into night briefing and said 'this is what we've got, not sure if it's anything but keep your eye open for this stolen vehicle, specifically because it might be related to the bank robberies,'" Rodgers explained.
Rodgers says that "good policing" led to the arrests when patrol officers spied the gray van, tried to pull it over and the suspects fled on foot.
Enter the canine unit and police dog Thor who tracked down the two suspects and officers took the pair into custody.
"It all linked up together. Multi-jurisdictional and multi-departments working together with a tip here and a tip there and putting it all together like a giant puzzle," Rodgers said.
Police say they use all sources of information to fight crime, including social media, traditional media, sharing information with each other and in this case, a tip from the public that helped bring it all together.
