It's not a function of how critical your job is. It's a function of what a worthless POS this burglar is. Even if my job was flipping hamburgers, it wouldn't be worth my time to hang around. Disrupting your daily routine would just give this punk more attention than he deserved.
I think it was a great statement to just head off to work and leave the wife in charge as your hog-tied house burglar writhed in the yard, waiting to be taken to jail.