Police in Denver (Colorado, USA) used Apple’s Find My smartphone app to locate a house where a criminal was hiding… and they were wrong. Now, according to the court’s verdict, two police officers have to pay the homeowner $3.76 million, reports CNN.
The Denver police responded to a report of a stolen truck, which, according to the owner, contained “four semi-automatic handguns, a tactical military rifle, a revolver, two drones, $4,000 in cash, and a used iPhone 11.” It was this old iPhone that the police decided to track down at the suggestion of the victim himself and with the help of Apple’s Find My app.
Despite the fact that Find My is not a police-certified app and despite the app’s limited accuracy, which is affected by a variety of factors, including weather, Detective Staab, the lead investigator, quickly drafted a search warrant for the house and called in SWAT.
A screenshot from the Find My app attached to the warrant showed that the possible location of the stolen smartphone included “at least six different properties and parts of four different neighborhoods in the vicinity.”
The plaintiffs refer to the instructions for the Find My program on Apple’s website, which states that “such a screenshot does not provide any rational evidence to justify a search of the house listed in the warrant.” Therefore, Detective Staab was also charged with misleading the court in obtaining the search warrant. Sergeant Bushey, who signed the warrant, was the second defendant.
The Denver police will have to pay $3.76 million to the victim, 78-year-old Ruby Johnson, who suffered “severe physical and emotional stress,” most likely from the city of Denver. Both accused police officers will continue to serve. There are no changes in the procedure for issuing search warrants in the Denver Police Department.
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