A 77-year-old grandmother opened her door to a SWAT team earlier this year because they thought a stolen truck and weapons were hidden in her garage. They thought that solely because someone had used Apple’s Find My network to locate it. But there was a problem.
That problem was the big blue circle displayed on the Find My app, highlighting that it wasn’t sure exactly where the truck was because there was no firm location available. But that didn’t stop a police officer from getting a search warrant and letting a SWAT team lose the woman.
faulty information
Ars Technica (opens in a new tab) reports that Ruby Johnson’s house became a point of interest due to a stolen truck with an iPhone and guns inside. The truck owner had used the Find My service to locate where they thought her iPhone should be, driving a rental car to try to pin things down. Johnson’s garage was flagged as the likely storage location.
However, the police officer in charge of the case did not understand, or did not care, that Find My Location was in a large blue circle because that location was not confirmed, probably due to poor GPS correction. That meant “the blue circle covered an area encompassing at least six different properties and parts of four different blocks,” according to a complaint filed last week. Johnson is suing the Denver Police Department. (opens in a new tab) (DPD) about the incident.
After receiving a search warrant and a SWAT team, police entered Johnson’s home, breaking items and even drilling holes in the ceiling to search for items that simply weren’t there.
“DPD is working with the Denver District Attorney’s office to develop additional training for officers and assistant district attorneys related to finding warrants based on the Find My Phone apps,” a DPD spokesperson told Ars Technica.
The Find My network is one of the best iPhone, iPad, and Mac tools available for people who lose their devices, but its limitations are apparent in situations like this. The truck was probably in that blue circle somewhere at some point. Unfortunately for a 77-year-old woman, so was she.
