SA Police Commissioner Grant Stevens says he sympathises with the mother whose car was allegedly stolen with her infant inside, saying every police resource was thrown at the case on Monday morning.
The four-month-old was in his car seat inside a Honda Jazz when it was allegedly stolen from outside of a deli in the Adelaide suburb of Klemzig on Monday.
Police said the baby's mother was inside the deli when a man pulled up in a stolen Mazda ute and switched cars.
Police found the abandoned car with the baby still inside about two hours later in the nearby suburb of Enfield.
Mr Stevens said while "common sense prevails", he urged people not to judge the mum's actions.
"The first thing that springs to mind for me is people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones," he told ABC Radio Adelaide.
"I would be very surprised if there's anyone out there that's raised children has not done something that, on reflection, might have led to an opportunity like this happening.
"A four-month-old sleeping in the car and you've got to duck into a shop? The temptation is to leave that little kid sleeping and do it as quickly as possible.
"I'd encourage people to be generous in their thinking around this and have a reflection on the sort of decisions you might have made raising young children."
Commissioner Stevens said the mum was "very relieved" to have her infant returned to her.
"I'm certainly sympathising with the mum, it could have happened to anyone," he said.
Commissioner Stevens said SA Police threw every possible resource at the situation and he was "very grateful" the baby was safely returned to his mum.
"I think you would have struggled to find a police car anywhere else in the metropolitan area and probably outer metropolitan as well, it was just a great response," he said.
Commissioner Stevens said the public response was also "fantastic".
"We had people in the community keeping an eye out as well," he said.
"This is what we expect from our community, we often say a police service can't police the community by itself – we need the assistance and support of the community – and we certainly got that on this occasion."
