Disturbing crimes

Indeed, having been in Sydney for nearly a year and I had never seen any crimes at all, till last Sunday (2nd Dec). In merely 24hours, two crimes happened, right before my eyes. And luckily, I wasn't the victim.

Case 1:
It was around 12am. I was riding my bicycle (well, it actually belongs to my fren) along the main Uni walkway when I saw a group of people seemingly playing around on the far stretch of the walkway. As the lights were inadequate, I could only see black figures that seems like tugging around - scenes I would expect on a early Sunday morning where folks would prolly be drunk and having fun with each other. But, as I was approaching them, I started to see two black figures seems to be tugging a bag or something that looks like a bag. Having the earlier pre-conceived mindset, I didn't think much about it. And as I proceed even further, all of the black figures except two started to run off in the direction of the Village Green. Again, I didn't think much of it - prolly some drunken fun. As I cycle pass the two that are still on the uni walkway, I realise they were asian girls (and they seems pretty ok). I was puzzled but again the fact that it might be a crime hasn't kick in yet. It was only after quite a distant that those two girls might have been targets of snatch thief occur to me! And till now, I still couldn't be sure if there is really a crime at all. Firstly, I didn't hear anyone shouting for help during the whole process. Secondly, when I ride pass them, they didn't stop me for help as well. But then, if it is not a crime-in-process, then why did those black figures ran away when I was approaching? Should I even report this to the Uni security??

Case 2:
This happened at around 3am in Monday morning. I was doing my stuffs on my laptop at home, and then a loud burglar alarm went off across the street. Thinking that it was another false alarm, I had wanted to ignore it. But somehow, curiosity got the better of me, and I went over to my window to take a look. And I saw a police car parked just outside Gloria Jeans. Hmm.. and it was the first time I saw the police attending to a burglar alarm! Shortly, I saw a policeman and policewoman exit the car, with the policeman entering Gloria Jeans. I saw the policewoman wanting to enter the cafe as well, but don't know for whatever reason(s), she kept walking to and fro the police car, getting something etc. Anyway, the climax of the whole 'show' is about to present itself - the policeman had apparently caught hold of the perpetrator, but as the policeman was about to bring him through the door (with the door glass smashed, the thief put up a struggle. Of course, the policeman tried to grad hold to the guy, but wasn't able to. The thief remove his jacket (which the policeman was grabbing onto during the struggle)and ran away along Waratah Ave! Immediately, both the policeman and policewoman gave chase.. but as expected, the policewoman was lacking behind.. LOL... Come to think of it, I should have video-ed the whole commotion down!

But seriously, why would the thief escape from custody so easily? In Singapore, if a suspect escape from custody e.g. from jail, or from the hands of a police officer, the officer-in-charge is in for a big trouble unless he can justify it's not his/her fault. And I think that the Australian policeman should have handcuffed the guy straight away when they caught him in the cafe - and the suspect wouldn't have gotten away so easily! I wonder if the suspect is caught in the end...