CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - A would-be Canadian robber picked the wrong place at the wrong time this week, attempting to hit a liquor store -- right across the street from a police station in the midst of a shift change.

Police in the western Canadian city of Edmonton, Alberta, said a man wearing a ski mask walked into the liquor store and demanded cash. The clerk refused to co-operate and the man, unable to fill his pockets, fled the store.

The clerk called the police just as the station was packed with officers preparing for the shift change.

Several of them just walked to the store parking lot and arrested the man there.

The 37-year-old has been charged with attempted robbery.