A nice analogy but one that is fundamentally flawed since the police are not dealing drugs. See me as a patron at a shop. You're the shoplifter. I catch you shoplifting and return the stolen item to the store. The shopkeeper is happy with me and gives me a mars bar for my troubles.

It was a hypothetical comparison.

See me as a patron at a shop. You're the shoplifter. I catch you shoplifting and return the stolen item to the store. The shopkeeper is happy with me and gives me a mars bar for my troubles.

Here are the flaws

1. Patrons are coincidental one time things. The shoplifter can just come by again. You are someone that sticks around loitering with the shopkeeper's permission. Kinda like paid security or mafia thug.
2. You take what's on the shoplifter, but you're not giving it back to the shopkeeper. You're pocketing it.
3. Shoplifter never answers legally. Just goes to someone else's shop.