A police sergeant is being praised for showing kindness when he was called to arrest a man accused of stealing toys for his son from a shop last Christmas Eve.
The man was caught on CCTV taking three wrestling figurines from a shelf at the Toyworld Central store in the north-eastern Melbourne suburb of Greensborough.
The footage then showed the man brazenly walking out of the shop without paying or stopping – but the sergeant later bought a toy for the man’s child.
‘On the way out, (the alleged thief) completely ignored our person on the door who was acting as security,’ store manager Tomeeka Neil told 7News.
Staff members were stunned at the daylight robbery and three of them ran after the man until they saw him board a bus they knew would pass by the local police station.
A man (pictured) was caught on CCTV taking three wrestling figurines from a shelf at the Toyworld Central store in the north-eastern Melbourne suburb of Greensborough
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The alleged shoplifters were about to load their boot when the Kmart worker approached them
They called the station to let them know what happened and a short time later the sergeant stopped the bus and arrested the alleged shoplifter.
The officer took the items off the man to return them to the store, but staff were shocked when he later came back to the shop and paid $39 for one of the toys.
‘He came back and actually purchased one of the items to give back to the thief to hand to his child for Christmas,’ Ms Neil said.
The officer showed that the spirit of Christmas was alive and well.
‘He mentioned that just because the thief was an addict or whatever he was, didn’t mean that his child had to grow up to be one,’ the store manager said.
The humble sergeant didn’t tell anyone about buying the toy and his colleagues were not even aware of his touching act until they were contacted by Channel 7.
Toyworld said theft in their shops has risen in the past 12 months, with sometimes violent consequences.’
Sales assistant Seb Molloy, 19, lost a tooth after confronting an alleged thief at their Northland outlet when the woman punched him in the face.
‘To be honest, I never would have thought it would happen to me. I’ve seen it happen to a few of my co-workers. Yeah, it was a bit of a shock,’ he said.
Despite his injury, though, he too got the goods back.
Ms Neil has a word of warning for any would-be thieves. ‘I suggest you don’t, because here at Toyworld we are very proactive about it.
‘We will take it on and we will stop you,’ she said.
The officer (pictured) took the items off the man to return them to the store, but staff were shocked when he later came back to the shop and paid $39 for one of the toys