iPhone & Find My iPhone App Help Catch Smartphone Thief Red-Handed in New York [Tech Savvy Policeman Catches iPhone Thief With Little Actual Smartphone Experience]

Posted on TFTS by Chris Smith on Friday, 27. January 2012 under: Computers & Computing, Mobile/Cell Phones, PCs, Notebooks, Netbooks & Tablets

We’ve seen this story before: iPhone gets stolen, tech savvy person uses Apple’s Find My iPhone app to locate the device on the map and retrieve it, thief gets caught and iPhone is retrieved. Unfortunately not all stolen iPhones are found this way, as either some of the thieves out there targeting smartphone owners know how to escape the app, or iPhone owners are not aware in the first place that such a feature is available to them.

Recently, we talked about a large New York police sting meant to apprehend electronics retailers in the city willing to sell stolen iPhones and iPads to customers and today we’re going to virtually return to NYC where a tech savvy policeman, and Apple fan, used the available technology to find a stolen iPhone, retrieve it and arrest the suspect, all in just half of hour of work.

The robber stole an iPhone 4 at gun point from a cashier that was enjoying her break near the entrance of the shop yesterday evening. When the police came and heard what was going on, Officer Robert Garland prompted the victim to enter her Apple ID on his iPhone 4 in the Find My iPhone app. From there on it was just a formality. The suspect, unaware of what was going on, was located on the map and the officers managed to identify him once they got near him by pressing the “PlaySound” button inside the app, which triggers a beeping sound from the stolen device.

George Bradshaw, a 40-year old man that’s already facing charges in a cellphone theft last month, was arrested and the stolen iPhone has been retrieve. While Bradshaw clearly lacks the skills of stealing cellphones, especially smartphones, officer Garland surely deserves credit for the success of the operation. The New York Times notes that unlike Bradshaw, Garland is “an Apple consumer – he and his wife own iPhones, iPads and Macintosh computers.”

This is definitely a story that both victims and police officers should read, in order to be able to intervene in similar situations in the future. Unfortunately the useful feature that locates iPhones can be quickly disarmed by a savvy thief, not that we’re encouraging anyone to steal smartphones. And no, we’re not going to tell you how to disable the feature!

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I hate the slide button on the side of the iphone 4s that makes the iphone 4s mute. it encourages thieves to take it and switch it off and when you call it wont ring(even if its near you), you wont hear it. I also hate when i slip the phone in my pocket and it accidentally switches to off, When i look at my phone later i have alot of missed calls …. ;-()