Police unable to help victim in Detroit

[philip964]

http://deadlinedetroit.com/articles/745 ... qCE_uL18cd" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

A world famous photographer had all his camera equipment stolen out of his car (including the last two days of work) on an assignment to show how Detroit was rebounding. They also took his iPhone. Using an iPhone app he located the iPhone (and we presume his equipment) to a house in Detroit. The police were unable to help as they did not consider that to be enough evidence for a warrant to enter the home. But they are working on his case.

[gigag04]

Sucks to be in Detroit...it works all the time in Tx.

[Jaguar]

I hate to be accused of “blaming the victim” but what the heck was he thinking? One good camera lens can easily run $10,000 and most pro photographers have several, a good body is $3-5K and again most pros have backups, plus all the miscellaneous equipment (memory cards, portable HDD, flashes & strobes, laptops, etc.) can add up to thousands of dollars. To go into Detroit alone carrying that kind of equipment is stupid. It is all easy to sell at a pawn shop for pennies on the dollar, I’m sure Leslie "Les" Gold would be happy to fence it for them.

Everyone knows Detroit is a lawless city with thugs running the streets, why tempt fate? Had it been me I would have been armed legally, with at least two other people also legally armed, and one of them would have been the biggest, blackest dude my money could buy. Standing on the streets of Detroit with high dollar camera gear – alone – might as well had a neon sign saying “MUG ME” with a big arrow pointing at himself.

[ELB]

"Morris, who lives in Florida, was shooting photos for a positive story about Detroit..."

Oh, the irony, it burns, it burns...

[Abraham]

Detroit - An apocalyptic horror hole almost as vile as Chernobyl.

Wait, I'd rather be in Chernobyl...

[Dave2]

"Morris, who lives in Florida, was shooting photos for a positive story about Detroit..."

Oh, the irony, it burns, it burns...

What, like this?

[cb1000rider]

Only thing that I can think of is that Detroit is screwed. In that situation, you triage an prioritize. Property theft is down on the list from violent crime.

Detroit is in a bad way.

[texanjoker]

Generally speaking the iphone app is not enough to obtain a search warrant. It provides a general location and usually that can be more then one house in a populated area. I know locally we would not be able to get a search warrant based on that alone. The case says they are working on it so all is not lost yet.

[cb1000rider]

Generally speaking the iphone app is not enough to obtain a search warrant. It provides a general location and usually that can be more then one house in a populated area. I know locally we would not be able to get a search warrant based on that alone. The case says they are working on it so all is not lost yet.

Does "it depend"? An iphone location is my area is pretty darn residence specific.
I understand that a 3-story apartment complex is going to be different.

[Cedar Park Dad]

Only thing that I can think of is that Detroit is screwed. In that situation, you triage an prioritize. Property theft is down on the list from violent crime.

Detroit is in a bad way.

Guliani's (spelling?) NY policies of arresting for everything seemed to work very well.

[Pawpaw]

[ELB]

hiroshima-detroit.jpg

Pawpaw FTW.

[texanjoker]

Generally speaking the iphone app is not enough to obtain a search warrant. It provides a general location and usually that can be more then one house in a populated area. I know locally we would not be able to get a search warrant based on that alone. The case says they are working on it so all is not lost yet.

Does "it depend"? An iphone location is my area is pretty darn residence specific.
I understand that a 3-story apartment complex is going to be different.

That would be part of it. The detectives should be doing a background on the house(s) in question to build up more PC. Heck they might find wanted people in the house or parolees or people on probation that have given up their 4th amendment rights as part of their supervision, depending on that area.

I know when my daughters i phone was taken the map was not specific enough to pin point the exact house. A lot is going to depend on the area in question and how close residences are together. Then various jurisdictions and judges will have different views on when they should sign a warrant and when they shouldn't. I know I would be upset if somebody got a warrant off a generic print out and kicked down my door

[airborned]

hiroshima-detroit.jpg

Pawpaw FTW.

this

[philip964]

I'll have to find the article where the Toyota Leaf owner was tracked down and arrested a few days later for plugging his car in at school while he picked up his son. They think he may have stolen 5 cents worth of electricity during the 10 minutes he was there.

Or in LA where two guys were later tracked down and charged with theft for taking some loose Porsche parts from the flatbed of the wrecker truck at a stoplight carrying the wreckage of the Porsche the movie star died in.

Sounds like it depends on how much work the police have on their plates at the time. Theft is theft after all.