My phone was stolen (HELP!)

[Stocklone]

So I bought an Evo for my brother. He lives 1800 miles away. It was stolen earlier today. I called up Sprint. They informed me I can do Family Locator. I setup tracking on it. A couple hours later I get a hit.

Well I think this is awesome! Let's go bust them. Only on TV apparently. I file a claim. Finally get a callback 2 hours later. That's not in their city and they can't do anything. (thanks, google maps!). Sure enough, I did driving directions from the police station to the place where it is at and the address was actually another city. He said to call back tomorrow to try to talk to a property detective.

So I call the other city. They say they can't check it out unless the other city police gives them the ok. I go to check the location again and I can't get a reading. So I don't want to make another call to go check it out when I have no tracking happening at the moment. I can't say one way or another where the phone is so what's the point.

Has anybody else been a similar situation? How did it work out for you? Any advice on what to do next? This just seems hopeless despite having the the location of the phone. I even got it to the point where the accuracy radius was around a single freaking house. 17 yards.

 

[marctronixx]

this is not specific to EVOs so its moved to the general forum to open this up to more eyes and possibly more help...

best of luck...

 

[snapper.fishes]

Well that just sucks. So you know where your phone is, but yet you can't get the police to search that place?

 

[Tom45282003]

you bring a axe and you bust the door yourself
good luck getting your phone back

 

[cazman]

"Yea my phone was stolen and I know exactly where it is" "Not our city, not our problem" - that shows to me that something has gone wrong with the justice system somewhere. I really hope you get your phone back man.

 

[LoyalServant]

The issue I have with these cases is that the police will go after a piece of crap car that's worth $500 if they know where it is.
But... a phone that's worth $550-$600 gets sidelined, even if they know where it is.

The police seem to be more interested in catching some 16 year old kid with a dime bag to make quota.

 

[AndroidSPCS]

The cops won't do anything. I've been the victim of a hit & run, took the other car's license plate, a description of the driver, filed a police report, had several hundred dollars in damage.

Guess what happened? Nothing. The cops sat on it for over a year. I called every week to find out what was happening, how I could go and identify the driver via a photo-lineup, and pursue charges. The cops deemed it too low in priority, so the other driver got away with no police action.

A stolen phone? Haahaaa, good luck!!! The justice system is amazingly overwhelmed, and low level crimes like this are pretty much never prosecuted. It's really sad.

 

[HeatherrSuicide]

so what do ya'll suggest, vigalante justice? You mean cops have to take into account that people have been known to plant a phone in a house, then claim it stolen just to get the person in trouble? Innocent until proven guilty?

It's almost like cops can't just bust in every house someone thinks has their stuff. WHat if it's at an apartment complex and within that 17 meters means they have to kick in the door of 5 apartments. Sorry to you 4, but Stocklone insists we violate everyone's constitutional rights so he can get the phone he neglected to insure in the first place.

Why you haven't shut it off, locking the phone through it's ESN # just shows you aren't wanting to hear real solutions to your problem, you want to go all Die Hard on someone that stole from you.

Quit trying to be all Columbo, go to cell phone store, report it stolen and have the phone locked down so you don't continue to pay for them using the phone, and either get another phone AND INSURE IT, or tell your brother you can't afford a new phone for him.

That's not quite fair. You mean to tell me if you bought a relatively expensive phone (as I'm sure you have, seeing as this is the Android forums, and not WebOS), and someone stole it WITHIN 24 hours of the purchase, that you wouldn't want to do something about it? Insurance or not, he has every right to call the police.

That being said... Stocklone, you're most likely not going to get a serious response from the cops. Your best bet is probably to get the phone locked ASAP, before the thieves start having some serious fun with your phone bill.

 

[dan330]

other than..
1. you should have loaded an app to help you in this situation.. lock down the phone.. and you can track it. app like "lookout"

2. go to the door.. knock on it... say.. wheres my EVO? You can tell if they act funny. sometimes they might just hand it over.
.. "i know you got it.. I know where you live.. and what you drive.. nice wheels. give me.. and it ends here. "

 

[crazysoccerman14]

Or possibly consider greasing the gears by offering further financial compensation for a police officer's time. I would try to give a cop some money before going to an unknown house by myself- you simply don't know what to expect. I would only pay if it wasn't going to get done any other way. Think of a percentage you are willing to pay of the phone's value. Or just annoy the **** out of them by not letting a day go by without them hearing your voice.

It depends how bad you want the phone. If you know where it is, and all you need is someone to go with you to get it, I would be highly motivated to get it back.

Being without a (really cool) phone sucks.

If all goes well, a cop will bust the guy with your phone, find out its osama bin laden (who is holding onto Iraq's WMD's), and you will be a hero.

 

[Dark Jedi]

Or possibly consider greasing the gears by offering further financial compensation for a police officer's time. I would try to give a cop some money before going to an unknown house by myself- you simply don't know what to expect. I would only pay if it wasn't going to get done any other way. Think of a percentage you are willing to pay of the phone's value. Or just annoy the **** out of them by not letting a day go by without them hearing your voice.

It depends how bad you want the phone. If you know where it is, and all you need is someone to go with you to get it, I would be highly motivated to get it back.

Being without a (really cool) phone sucks.

If all goes well, a cop will bust the guy with your phone, find out its osama bin laden (who is holding onto Iraq's WMD's), and you will be a hero.

you offer a cop anything to find or do something and its considered a bribe and they should not take it.