Sleeping like the dead, how would they catch a thief?

So he thought it was his big chance to catch a petty thief.

In truth, more often than having to catch, thieves, they merely arrested those who came to them.

No one liked to go too deep into the slums to catch a thief.

Police say such a task is virtually impossible, unless they catch a thief in action.

We could someday hope to catch all murderers or thieves.

Poor surveillance equipment also makes it harder to catch thieves.

That is how most criminals are caught, especially professional thieves.

What was the saying: Set a thief to catch a thief?

There is, after all, much truth to the adage that to catch a thief, it helps to have been one.