Semi OT: Vigilante Justice

[MattTuck]

Saw this today on Slashdot. About people using apps to GPS track their stolen phones and attempting to recover them. (http://yro-beta.slashdot.org/story/14/05/04/1535228/death-wish-meets-gps-iphone-theft-victims-confronting-perps)

"Thankfully, no one's gone full-Charles-Bronson yet, but the NY Times reports that victims of smartphone theft are using GPS to take the law into their own hands, paying visits to thieves' homes and demanding the return of their stolen phones. "The emergence of this kind of do-it-yourself justice," writes Ian Lovett, "has stirred worries among law enforcement officials that people are putting themselves in danger, taking disproportionate risks for the sake of an easily replaced item." And while hitting "Find My iPhone" can take you to a thief's doorstep, LAPD Cmdr. Andrew Smith urges resisting the impulse to do so. "It's just a phone," he said. "it's not worth losing your life over. Let police officers take care of it. We have backup, guns, radio, jackets — all that stuff civilians don't have.""

I think we've seen the same police response to cyclists trying to track down and recover their own stolen bikes. It may not be a priority for police to track down stolen property, but to the victims it does seem to be very important, financially as well as emotionally, to get their stuff back.

[Tony T]

A bike is usually a high value item. iPhone (when received with a data plan), not so much.
If your iPhone is stolen, remotely wipe the phone (http://support.apple.com/kb/PH2701?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US), get a replacement and move on.

NYT: When Hitting ‘Find My iPhone’ Takes You to a Thief’s Doorstep (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/04/us/when-hitting-find-my-iphone-takes-you-to-a-thiefs-doorstep.html?hp)
And although pursuing a thief can occasionally end in triumph, it can also lead to violence, particularly because some people arm themselves — hammers are popular — while hunting for their stolen phones.

In San Diego, a construction worker who said his iPhone had been stolen at a reggae concert chased the pilferer and wound up in a fistfight on the beach that a police officer had to break up. A New Jersey man ended up in custody himself after he used GPS technology to track his lost iPhone and attacked the wrong man, mistaking him for the thief.
…and in the comment section:
It happened last month in my bucolic, practically crime-free, small town and the consequences were quite worse than the incidents reported here. The new smart phone was left on a bar and the soon-to-be,-no-longer-a petty-thief took off with it. The man who owned it tracked it with GPS to the local park and confronted the thief who wouldn't give the phone back. When the owner turned to leave and get the police the thief cracked the back of his head open with a large wrench. It was the worst crime we have seen here in years. Luckily, the end result was a concussion, some stitches and some serious charges against the perp.

[54ny77]

read that article this morning. that woman was incredibly stupid. no idea what she could have walked into. just ain't worth it.

and not to mention, this is what really rubbed me the wrong way: girl gets drunk at a bar, loses her phone, and now she wants cops to go chase it down? talk about incredible waste of police time and taxpayer money.

and entitlement society run amok.

[Tony T]

She is incredibly stupid.
"…when she was asked by text message if she would pursue a future pickpocket, she typed an unequivocal reply on her recovered phone: “Yes, def.”"