Police officers called to arrest shoplifter buy him the boots he tried to steal

A young man never expected what two police officers had in store for him after being caught while shoplifting a pair of shoes at Walmart.

Officers Braden Suffield and Shanan Snepp of the Roeland Park Police Department (RPPD) responded to a call about a juvenile who was kept in custody at a Walmart store in Kansas for trying to steal a pair of work boots.

Suffield and Snepp then discovered that the boy was a ‘displaced juvenile within the State of Kansas,’ as reported by the official Facebook page of RPPD, who was living in a group home.

He confessed to the officers that he was only trying to steal the boots so that he could get a job. The boy’s testimony touched the two officers, who decided to do something that many might consider slightly counterintuitive.

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Rather than arrest the boy and charge him for attempted theft, Suffield and Snepp bought the very boots that the boy was trying to steal and handed it over to him.

The officers also motivated and encouraged the boy to find a job, finish school, and to stay out of trouble.

The kind gesture from the police officers left the boy in tears, as stated by the Facebook post. It also left a positive impression of the police department on the society.

The Chief of Police at RPPD wrote in the Facebook post that the incident had given the department ‘just another reason’ to be proud of their officers.

‘I just smiled when I heard this story a short time ago as it almost made me cry too. Congrats to Officer Suffield and Officer Snepp for making another difference in RP and for a job well done…” the RPPD Facebook post further stated.

The police chief also admitted that the kind gesture from his officers made him ‘so proud’ that it almost made him cry as well.

A similar incident also occurred in Toronto, Canada where a police officer, Constable Niran Jeyanesan, bought a young man the same outfit that he was trying to steal.

The young man was trying to shoplift a Walmart in Toronto when Jeyanesan and his partner arrived on the location and changed the entire dynamics of the crime scene.

We are often moved and inspired by the stories of law enforcement officers going out of their way and line of duty to help other people.

Previously, a Huntersville police officer also made headlines after he offered to buy a tank of gas for a woman in need.