Just like we learned after all the idiot police chases, sometimes it is best to let them go.
I currently teach middle schoolers in NYC. If you're a police officer, handling any one of them would be a joke. The school has a small NYPD guard (maybe 150lbs) who routinely gets into brawls with 4+ kids, no problem and no need for even a nightstick.
You must teach in some "nice" school like PS 6 in Manhattan, or on the UWS/UES, or one of the nice areas in Brooklyn, Queens, or Staten Island then. Or a private school?
I'm not a police officer; however I'm a parent and grandparent so I know what kids that age look like...and yes, I'm talking about upper middle to upper class kids. But socio-economics doesn't matter...it's the size and mobility that I'm talking about.
You aren't a parent, but IF you were, would you allow your 11 year old to be out at night and knowing where he or she was nor with whom,strolling around a supermarket shop lifting?
Using a taser isn't considered deadly force. That's why it's preferred over shooting or beating a perp to submit.
How do you know shoplifting places no lives at risk? There are no guaranteed outcomes when it comes to catching someone in a criminal act. You never know how that person is going to react when you attempt to stop them.
Shoplifters get off all the time at big box stores, mostly due to staffing issues and security rules.
So the perps learn to play that. Store product ‘shrinkage’ is terrible these days. But, hey, it’s OK. We all pay for it through higher prices. And those perps will move on to worse activities, where someone WILL get hurt.