Retrieve handback or purse from thief

[AnnaBella]

I stopped a thief and talked to him. asked for id and did a control. See that he has the stolen purse. But how do i get it back? Btw, if i walk back to the person who he stole it from i cant talk to her or him.

[BibleClinger]

In my own playthrough, I once witnessed a theft right in front of my eyes. I caught the thief right away in front of the victim. The victim of the stolen wallet wouldn't stop screaming for help even after I had arrested the thief. I went to talk to the victim just to calm him down, and he suddenly vanished. I went back to the thief, searched him, found the wallet, but I couldn't return it to the vanished victim. I called in backup to take the thief away. When I left the vicinity, I was informed that the thief had somehow got away.

I think the way it's supposed to work is that you don't interact with the victim until after you have found the wallet on the thief after a search. Perhaps someone more knowledgeable and experience can confirm.

[zachattack]

I think the way it's supposed to work is that you don't interact with the victim until after you have found the wallet on the thief after a search. Perhaps someone more knowledgeable and experience can confirm. [/quote]

That is correct. Having ~150 hours on this game, I have caught a few wallet thieves in my time. Here is the procedure for handling a wallet theft.

1. Go catch the thief, either by tazing them or aiming your tazer. Make them stop so you can talk to them.
2. Ask for their ID and give them any violations as applicable (e.g. jaywalking, expired ID). This is more or less just for points.
3. Search them in order to find the stolen wallet. Be prepared for the thief to run away, in which case you will have to taze them again until they give you the wallet.
4. Once you have the wallet, arrest them and escort them to your car or call for backup.
5. With the thief taken care of, return to the screaming victim and return their wallet and give them a theft report. The progress bar on the left side of the screen should say "You're done."

If the thief gets away, you should still give the victim a report since this is official police procedure (and you still get a few points for it). The victim will be mad at you, but you've done your job.

I've never known wallet thefts do have any glitches like vanishing people, but this procedure should work.

Hope this helps! Now go catch some wallet thieves! :)

[AnnaBella]

thank you for the steps. But i had not a running thief. He was standing in front of me. Already seen his id, He stood with hands up high. I Searched him but he still keeps the wallet in his hands. There is no option to ask for it back or something. I don't think there is a reason to tase him when his hands are up high and already helpfull??

[zachattack]

For whatever reason, the thief will keep the wallet (visually), but you will have it in reality. If you play on casual mode, the UI intuition will say "You have retrieved the stolen wallet. Return it to its owner." Once you search the thief and one of the items found is the stolen wallet, then you can arrest the thief for a wallet theft and return to the owner.
Does this answer your question?

[AnnaBella]

Awesome. Thank you! Now it'sanwered.