This would be okay, if the officer explained to the thief that this was wrong and suggested other means of getting what he desired, like lending money from friends, or using Kickstarter or social networks or maybe even church (if this works in Canada) or whatever. The acceptable follow up would be to analyze for groups of kids under risk and have educational meetings at school. What the officer did seems right, but it might have gotten lucky. This will not be enough in a generic case.