Your Next Call: Locate My Stolen Apple Device

With the announcement last month that Apple’s iPhone, iPad and iPod touch now include location-finding features standard, it’s more likely that public safety dispatchers will receive a new type of 911 call—help me locate my stolen device. But with new capabilities comes the necessity for comm centers to have appropriate procedures that maintains owner privacy while still catching the crooks. Apple’s Find My iPhone feature was previously available only for iPhones with an annual subscription to the company’s MobileMe on-line service. But the service was expanded to include the iPad and iPod touch and the fee was dropped. If the owner of one of these devices calls to report a theft, dispatchers should be familiar with the service and should be prepared to log in to the caller’s Apple account to help locate the device and the suspects. Update: Some other brands of smartphones also have similar location services that can locate the handset. Also read this incident, where a stolen car chase ended with an officer run over and a dispatcher asking the iPhone owner to track the phone.

The Find My iPhone service offers four features: display the location of the device on a standard Google map, send a message to display on the screen or sound a distinctive sound to alert nearby people, remotely set a device passcode to restrict access, and completely erase personal data on the device and reset it to factory defaults.

In order to perform any of these actions, someone must log in to a Web page using the owner’s username and password. Once logged in, a list is displayed of one or more Apple portable devices assigned to the account owner. Once a specific device is selected, one of the four remote options can then be selected.

Apple describes the Find My iPhone service here, but it demonstrates only a lost iPhone situation, not a more urgent type of incident where a portable device was stolen. There are two scenarios: the caller is reporting a just-prior (or just-discovered) theft, and is reporting the location of the device by accessing the location service himself or the caller is asking the dispatcher to log in and determine the location of the device.

In the first case, the calltaker should ask the standard questions for a just-prior (or just discovered) crime, obtaining information about the caller, the crime, suspect and vehicle descriptions and direction of flight. An appropriate law enforcement response should be dispatched. The questions should then turn to the device location, including the city or county, the intersection or block range, or specific house number. Apple’s location service allows users to periodically re-poll the device for an updated location, so callers can provide the dispatcher with a general direction of flight for the device and suspect.

Apple’s location service uses cellular technology to locate devices, just like for 911 calls, but also can use nearby Wi-Fi base stations. Both methods have the same limitations on the accuracy of the reported location, indicated on Apple’s maps as a circle around a “pushpin.” In some cases the location is accurate to the size of a single house, while in other cases it can be within several hundred yards. Naturally, just like 911 location services, the service doesn’t report an elevation, so it’s useless in finding devices within multi-story buildings.

In the second case where the 911 caller is reporting a crime but doesn’t have Internet access, he/she may ask the dispatcher to log in and locate the device. Here are some considerations for comm centers when handling these calls:

• The potential for abuse is high, so it’s advisable to take caller information and have an officer or deputy make personal contact, and confirm crime and identify details before having a dispatcher access the device owner’s account. It’s also an option for the device owner to access Apple’s location service using the officer’s patrol car laptop, if Web access is authorized for the mobile data laptops. A third option is for the owner to access the service using an Apple app on an iPhone (how many officers or deputies carry their own iPhones?).
• The obvious first step is to erase the owner’s device. However, this option also turns off the location feature. It might be advisable to first set a passcode on the device, although this action might alert the thief that they’re being tracked. Instead, first obtain a location for the device, wait one to two minutes, and re-poll the device to obtain its general moving direction. This information will help get law enforcement moving to the correct location to intercept the suspect.
• The message and alert sound features would be useful to help officers locate the device once they arrive at the general location. The alert sound repeats for several minutes and is very loud (watch Apple’s video to hear the sound). The message feature could offer the thief a reward or, more ominously, tell them the police are closing in on them—pull over!
• After the incident is handled, the device owner should be reminded that a dispatcher did access their account, and to change their account password.

Read one of many iPhone recovery stories here, and a suspect capture story here.