‘He’s got my Taser’: Wild police radio drama revealed as five-minute prank
Tuesday, 7 July 2026
A dramatic five-minute radio exchange detailing a car roll, an axe-wielding offender, and an officer stranded in a creek was entirely fabricated by night-shift police staff.
Members of the public listening to unencrypted radio scanners in Southland, alongside other police staff, believed they were witnessing a genuine crisis unfold in Invercargill.
Listeners reported hearing intense details — including an officer losing a boot in Puni Creek and operators calling for backup — though some noticed staff trying to suppress laughter.
Police initially found no record of the incident but have since confirmed it was an internal mock scenario, and are now reviewing the actions of the staff involved.
An “Oscar-worthy” drama involving an axe-wielding crim, a stolen Taser and a shoeless cop stranded in a creek turned out to be an elaborate police prank.
Police have confirmed the dramatic radio exchange, heard by officers and members of the public listening on scanners in Southland last week, was a five-minute prank staged by night-shift staff. The incident never happened, and police are now reviewing the actions of those involved.
For five minutes, it sounded like one of the wildest police incidents Invercargill had heard in years.
The dramatic radio exchange was heard by police staff and civilians alike, but a brief Stuff investigation shows all was not as it sounded.
In most of New Zealand, police communicate on encrypted digital radios but in some areas, including Southland, the public can still listen in using radio scanners.
And last Tuesday night in Invercargill, they were glued to them.
“It started with an officer calling in a 3T (traffic stop), then the same officer called in a fleeing driver,” one listener told us.
“Normally comms calls a halt to the chase and asks for a direction of travel, but before that could happen the officer came back on channel (to say) that the car had rolled,” he told Stuff.
“The next thing we hear is, ‘He’s out of the car, he’s got an axe, he’s got my Taser.’”
The man recalled radio operators calling for backup before the officer was heard saying: “I’m in the creek, I’ve lost my boot.”
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He wasn’t alone. By the following morning, scanner listeners were comparing notes online.
“I heard something about a Glock,” one person recalled.
Many believed they had heard an officer disarmed by an axe-wielding offender, who stole the officer’s Taser and left the officer stranded in Puni Creek wearing just one boot.
Others claim they heard the officer crying.
“It was kind of hard to believe at the time,” Stuff’s source said.
Some thought some of the police sounded like they were struggling to suppress laughter.
“When the cop called to say he’d fallen in the creek, you could tell comms was trying not to laugh. It was quite the performance. If it was training, it was an Oscar-worthy performance.”
Audio clips sent to Stuff appeared to back up the story. Radio operators are heard to update responding officers that a suspicious car had rolled before saying “someone’s got an axe and taken his Taser.”
A panicked-sounding officer then says: “They’ve taken my off-sider (partner) and driven off.”
Some listeners even believed they heard someone say, “Good acting, guys,” after the drama concluded, fuelling speculation it had been a training exercise.
Police initially told Stuff they could find no record of the incident. After further inquiries, they confirmed the bizarre exchange was neither real nor training.
Stefan Sagar, the police’s Acting Director Emergency Communications and Dispatch, confirmed night-shift staff had staged “a radio-only mock scenario, as an internal prank” that lasted about five minutes.
“We are reviewing the actions of our staff and speaking with those involved.”
End scene.