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Brommers
At our bike shop we had someone verbally abuse our staff, be denied service, then walk out with an item from our shop while threatening to assault a team member (with a crankset in their hand). Police were called when guy refused to return our merch, and they said we should stop talking to the thief and shut the door, or they would hang up the phone (...). What’s the Law’s POV on detaining a thief? I’ve seen shoplifters detained at big chain supermarkets, usually in a headlock by one guy or by two guys one per arm, but those thieves just struggle without threatening violence or carrying a weapon. Also, is it worth requesting a review of the way the cop handled our call, or is it standard procedure to hang up on emergency callers when they can hear a shouting match and one party threatening the other? Worth mentioning the thief and his group were hanging out within eyesight for several minutes, and the cop said he would only pass on the info to the neighbourhood team or something similar (spoiler: no police showed up).