Pyjama clad top cop joins in suspect chase (From The Argus)
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Pyjama clad top cop joins in suspect chase
1:30pm Sunday 5th February 2012 in News By Anna Roberts
One of Sussex’s top policemen chased a suspected drug dealer through his garden in his pyjamas in the middle of the night.
Chief Inspector Jason Tingley, the force’s district commander for Lewes, did not think twice when he heard Sussex Police’s helicopter flying overhead yesterday morning.
When he looked out his bedroom window and saw police dog handlers he realised a significant incident was taking place so – despite having been fast asleep – he raced outside.
Yesterday Ch Insp Tingley, who lives in the Wish area of Hove, admitted his police colleagues were surprised to see him appear in the middle of a crime scene in his nightwear.
He said: “They were surprised to see a certain, sleepy chief inspector. “I heard the helicopter and I always look to see what that is.
“When I saw there were dogs I knew it was serious so I told my wife I was going out to see if I could help.”
He pulled a branded Sussex Police fleece and trainers on top of his pyjamas and set off outside.
The man being chased by police was a suspected drug dealer who officers had begun following at 10.15pm in New Church Road, Hove.
He had fled in a car but abandoned it in Ingram Crescent, Hove, and ran off.
He was chased by police officers with dogs and torches, jumping over fences and through gardens as he tried to escape.
Ch Insp Tingley said: “I want to praise the Brighton and Hove response teams who were really efficient.
“Afterwards, I locked myself out though. I had to call Mrs Tingley.”
A helicopter with a thermal camera eventually found the man hiding in the garden of a derelict building in Coleman Avenue at 10.40pm.
Yesterday, Ch Insp Tingley was the butt of his colleagues’ good-natured jokes on social networking sites.
A 19-year-old from Hove was last night being questioned on suspicion of dangerous driving, failing to stop for police and driving under the influ- ence of drugs.
