This was not the way a thief caught by an armed man should act.

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.

Thieves agree to this because their alternatives may present a greater risk of the thief being caught.

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.

By extension, the term also means the jurisdiction to try a thief caught with the property in question.

We could someday hope to catch all murderers or thieves.

Poor surveillance equipment also makes it harder to catch thieves.