Shoplifting is a pretty common problem in the US and people attempt this stunt despite tightened security either because of financial desperation or just force of habit.
And when cops get hold of the suspects involved in shoplifting they have a way to gauge the reason behind the act.
But these New York Police Department cops are being praised for their kind gesture towards a woman who shoplifted at a grocery store.?
Three New York City police officers were called to a Whole Foods store Thursday after a woman was accused of shoplifting. Instead of arresting her, they paid for the food she had stashed in her bag.
¡°We approached her, I asked what was going on,¡± said Lt. Louis Sojo to wsmv. ¡°She told me she was hungry.¡±?
The officers paid around 35 dollars of their own money to buy the woman groceries.
"We looked in her bag and we didn't see what we saw was containers of food,¡± said Officer Esnaidy Cuevas. ¡°We didn't see anything anything else. It was just a necessity food."
"When you look at someone's face and you notice that -- that they need you and they're actually hungry you know? It's pretty difficult as a human being to walk away from something like that,¡± Sojo said. ¡°You know we weren't raised like that you know. So it's the right thing to do."
Film and TV director Paul Bozymowkski happened to be a witness to the incident and tweeted a picture and wrote about the incident, "This woman was being held by security. She had food in her bag she didn't pay for. When the NYPD showed up, they paid for her food."
"It was a really nice moment for people,¡± said Bozymowski. ¡°It was compassionate and the woman obviously was really really grateful."
The officers did not expect that their good deed would go viral and they are now being showered with praises.?
The police force's chief of department, Terence Monahan, retweeted Bozymowski's photo, saying the three officers are part of the NYPD's Strategic Response Group, and "are the kind-hearted cops who quietly do good deeds for New Yorkers in need."