To Catch a Thief

One of the buildings at my work has been closed for 2 years for renovation, and was reopened last weekend. A huge festival weekend was planned, and I worked at it both Saturday and Sunday.

So, we'd been open for about an hour on Saturday, and I was working on the main floor when I hear a man cry out, "Stop that man! He stole my wallet! He's a thief, stop him!" I looked over to see a man start running.

I immediately started chasing him, and quickly saw a route through the crowd where I could cut him off. Two other staff members followed the route he took. Sure enough, he lost them, but I saw him run behind a partition, ditch his bag and the man's wallet, and start nonchalantely walking towards the exit. I was heading him off, so I actually greeted him and then just fell in behind him and started tailing him. I looked over at a colleague and mouthed "Help." He looked back and mouthed "Help?" I nodded and mouthed back, "Help, thief." He then quickly joined me and we tailed the man together towards the exit, where we knew there were security guards. As we approached the guard, I could see that she was on her walkie-talkie, and that she was saying she didn't know where the thief had gone. I started frantically waving and pointing at the guy I was tailing, and she stopped him before he could leave.

So that no one asks, no, I don't know what the hell I was thinking, little me chasing a criminal. It was instinct: I was in my place of work, I was responsible for the people in there, therefore I chased the man. I do believe that I acted as safely as possible under the circumstances, not identifying myself or letting him know that I knew what he had just done, and letting the trained professional stop him.

But seriously, holy crap, I totally wouldn't have caught him if I hadn't been a runner!