The cashier at a luxury clothing store in New York City, Tuci Italia, was taking a break, watching YouTube videos on her Apple iPhone with earphones on. A man walked into the store, pointed a gun at her, and demanded she turn over her iPhone. She handed over her handset and called the police. Responding to the call were Officer Robert Garland and Sgt. Richard Coan. Trying to calm the crying victim, Garland told her that he would get her iPhone back. The officer had a good reason to be confident since he and his wife are fans of all things Apple (both he and his wife own iPhones, iPads, and Macintosh computers) and he knew some apps that might be able to track down the purloined device.
Find my iPhone can help find a stolen unit
Wasting no time, the officer took out his Apple iPhone, loaded up the Find my iPhone app and punched in the victim's Apple ID number. Quickly, the officer was able to lock in on the suspect about 10 blocks away. Garland and his partner started up their patrol car and followed the suspect to a supermarket, the Food Emporium. Officer Garland pressed the "play sound" button on the app and instantly a pinging sound could be heard coming from a man outside the store, about 20 feet away from the officers.
Officers Garland and Coan along with two other policemen made the bust. 40 year old George Bradshaw was arrested and the Apple iPhone returned to the proper owner. Amazingly, the whole thing took only 30 minutes. Had Bradshaw been as knowledgeable about Apple as Officer Garland, he could have disabled the iCloud trace and would have been able to make a clean getaway. Instead, Bradshaw was charged with robbery and possession of stolen property.
Alan, an ardent smartphone enthusiast and a veteran writer at PhoneArena since 2009, has witnessed and chronicled the transformative years of mobile technology. Owning iconic phones from the original iPhone to the iPhone 15 Pro Max, he has seen smartphones evolve into a global phenomenon. Beyond smartphones, Alan has covered the emergence of tablets, smartwatches, and smart speakers.
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