> Hey, it’s the UK, where such things routinely happen.
You would find quick-smart that if you did that in the US the same thing would happen to you — and you’d also end up with a multi-million dollar lawsuit for your troubles.
If you are going to make a Citizen’s Arrest there is a specific way that it is done, and that would probably vary state-to-state. Here in New Zealand we have to be very careful: it even matters what time of day it is.
We are protected in NZ from criminal liablity if we do our citizen’s arrests properly. We are not protected from civil liability.
Because NZ derived its common law directly from the UK, the rules are likely to be very similar or the same in most cases. Citizens are permitted to arrest, but carefully.
What you would never be permitted to inflict is an extra-judicial punishment such as humiiation on an alleged thief: even in America this guy would have enjoyed the presumption of innocence until proven guilty. It is no different in Britain.
The cops did the correct thing here, 100% full marks. Caution the alleged thief (he’d already been punished) and throw the book at the boss.
Actually it wouldn't.
L
In the US, the guy who stole a few thousand from his erstwhile patron would be laughed out of court if he chose to take it that far.
The police would probably keep the sign as a trophy.
And, the guys who brought him in would be famous for an hour.
Unless, of course, well, that is..., I guess, unless he (or she) was of some different orientation or origin that had official sanction.
In that case, never mind.