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"The teenager, soon out of sight, had every reason to believe his getaway was whistle clean. The woman, with just as many reasons to believe that was the last she would see of her phone, flagged a police officer, who put a call over the radio with a description of the young man wearing a yellow hooded sweatshirt. Another officer pulled out his own iPhone, and together with the victim, logged into the Find My iPhone feature, which should work if the thief had not turned the victim’s phone off."
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Happy ending, I guess, but it also seems like a little bit of an imbalance in the use of police resources, as well as an unnecessary risk to public safety.
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I guess, but it's also nice to see this type of theft get some attention. And it's really out of hand here.
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Happy ending, I guess, but it also seems like a little bit of an imbalance in the use of police resources, as well as an unnecessary risk to public safety.
I don't see a problem here.
First, I'd want to know exactly how much French Connection was actually infused into this pursuit and how much was "journalistic" embellishment.
Second, police routinely have to balance risk to the general public and trying to catch a crook. I don't know that the cop actually drove like Doyle.
Third depends on state law. NY is deluged with thefts of Apple products. In CA, this is not just theft, it's theft from the person of another. With no weapon used, this is strong arm robbery, not mere theft. The woman could have been seriously hurt; fortunately she wasn't.
Fourth, "It's just a phone. Go home and call your insurance agent" just doesn't fly nor should it. A crook is short of cash and feels it's ok to go out and risk someone else's welfare to rob them of their property. If you can take somebody to jail, you should.
My only complaint is that this article was published. It's good to let some people know that cops are actually catching crooks and not ignoring crime while frequenting donut shops or tricking unsuspecting drivers to violate various vehicle codes to fatten city coffers. But I don't feel it's necessary to publicly inform crooks about Find My iPhone.
So, based on what we know so far, congratulations, NYPD.
