Tim Holahan Photo
New wireless-locating technologies can seem creepy and Big-Brotherly, but less so when they’re on your side. I found that out when they helped an ingenious police officer retrieve my iPad and laptop in less than an hour, after they were stolen from my car in a downtown smash and grab.
The episode occurred Monday. Here’s a moment-by-moment account of what happened:
5:23 pm: I parked on the north side of Crown Street just west of Church, east of Cask Republic and The Wine Thief. I locked the car, paid the meter, and went into the Wine Thief looking for a bottle of wine for my wife’s birthday.
5:31 pm: I got back to the car to find the front passenger window smashed and my briefcase, which I’d left on the front passenger seat floor, missing. The briefcase contained my top-of-the-line MacBook Pro and iPad (total value new around $4K), along with a few personal items.
A Downtown Ambassador walked by and called the police on his cell phone. Norma Beamon, a dispatcher, took the call, and had me call her back on my cell to file a report of the theft.
While talking to Norma, I realized I might be able to locate the iPad on Apple’s “Find My iPad” app (a part of iCloud). Norma told me that, if I could locate the device, I could have a police officer meet me at the site.
5:45 pm: I couldn’t get icloud.com to work on my Android phone’s browser, so I went into Cask Republic to ask if I could use a computer with Internet. They generously obliged, and in a few minutes I had located the iPad on Whitney across from the Yale Geology Library. I called the NHPD again, and they notified the Yale Police, since I was reporting that the device was on Yale property.
James Mahoney, an employee of Cask Republic, agreed to keep an eye on the position of the device while I went to meet the Yale Police.
6:05 pm: I met an officer of the Yale PD (who asked to remain anonymous; he told me to refer to him as “the Asian one”) at the address on Whitney Avenue. My briefcase was nowhere to be seen.
The officer asked for my iCloud account info, logged in on his iPhone, and told me to stay put.
At this point, I was in the parking lot behind 221 Whitney. James called to say that the iPad was now just west of Whitney on Humphrey. (Humphrey
continues into the Pierson-Sage parking lot.)
6:15 pm: A police car with lights and siren on came up Whitney and stopped at the entrance to the Pierson-Sage Garage parking lot. The officers arrested a man and woman who had my briefcase at the bus stop at the entrance of the parking lot.
The police returned my stuff to me later, after processing it as evidence.
Thanks to Ms. Beamon, the anonymous Yale Police officer, and to James Mahoney and the management of Cask Republic for their generous help. It would have been a disaster for me (and my small business) if I’d lost my laptop.
Here's a crime-stopper idea. Don't leave your briefcase in full view in your car, no matter the time or location. Having it in your trunk would have avoided ALL of this. That's been good advice for valuables for decades before laptops and iPads.