A 14-year-old teenager in Delta, B.C., is being credited with helping police catch a burglar in the act -- and she did it without saying a word to a 911 dispatcher.

Delta Police Const. Sharlene Brooks said Tuesday the girl called her dad after hearing someone at the door of her home last Friday night.

"Dad ultimately ends up calling us (and) we then make direct contact with her at the residence," Brooks said.

She said that while the man was ransacking the house, the girl went into the master bedroom, locked the door and hid under a pile of clothes in a walk-in closet as she spoke to a 911 dispatcher on a cordless phone.

"She stays on the phone with the dispatcher and while they're on the phone the suspect enters the room in which she's hiding," Brooks said.

The girl could say nothing as the burglar entered the closet, Brooks said.

She said the girl stayed calm and pressed a key on the phone twice to indicate Yes and once for No as a way to provide silent responses to questions asked by the 911 dispatcher.

"It's a flight or fight situation that she's in and she managed to hone in her emotions and do what she needed to do," Brooks said.

"The operator was extremely honest with her. She said `I don't want to make you afraid but that person in your house isn't your neighbour."'

Brooks said the burglar may not have been aware of the girl in the closet because he could have been "in a heightened state of anxiety."

Police were quickly on the scene and arrested the burglar without incident.

Brooks said that without the calm responses from the teen, the ingenuity of the dispatcher and the quick action of Delta police, the situation could have ended much differently.

Vancouver resident James Paul Perrault, 55, has made his first court appearance and faces charges of break and enter and possession of break-in instruments.

He will be back in court on May 6.