Blood runs thicker than water, and apparently familial iPhones are more important than real police work. At least that’s the case in Berkeley, where Police Chief Michael Meehan ordered 10 of his officers to look for his son’s stolen iPhone.
When Meehan’s little boy lost his iPhone from his locker at Berkeley High School on January 11, 2012, his father was quick to act, reports the SFGate. The phone in question had tracker software installed, so Meehan deployed his crime sergeant’s team, as well as drug task force officers, to hunt it down. Drug task officers!
The phone stopped transmitting a signal eventually and was never found. Still, that didn’t stop 10 officers looking for it, four of whom were being paid overtime throughout the process.
SFGate reports that, conveniently, none of the officers filed a report about the incident when it happened in January. Since word spread, a department spokesperson has explained that lack of paperwork as “an oversight that came to our attention when researching” the allegations. Convenient.
It’s not the first time Meehan has been in hot water: he’s being investigated by a San Francisco law firm for sending an officer to a reporter’s home after midnight to get changes made to a story. In other words, he think he’s a big deal. Though, clearly, his son’s iPhone is a pretty big deal too — so it’s a shame that even all that effort didn’t find it. [SFGate]
Image: City of Berkeley