Technology is scary

I found this story kind of interesting.


A few weeks ago, a temp co-worker of mine told me that he and his girlfriend met another couple downtown for drinks. They split up at the end of the night and his buddy + fiancee were walking home across the Henn. Ave bridge toward Riverplace when a guy on a bike stole her purse. They reported it, but the cops said there was probably nothing they'd be able to do. Now, the couple had recently purchased a set of those new fangle GPS cell phones and for a lark decided to see if they could locate her phone on the web.

And they did. South Minneapolis residence.

So they called the cops. Cops said "Sorry. Can't help you." So he calls up my co-worker and they go to the dudes house. In the foyer, they saw the bike. (I guess it was a yellow mountain bike) And they knocked on the door. They asked the guy that answered if he knew of any stolen property and (of course) he said he had no idea what they were talking about. They told them they had traced the purse to this location using the GPS and they'd be happy to call the police to inform them and he still (of course) balked. They thanked him and left.

Annnnd from their truck around the corner, on his GPS, a neat little signal left the front of the property they were just at as they watched him walk around the corner and leave. A little while later, they traced the phone to an alley and found it in an upturned recycling bin. Another call to the cops to confirm their suspicions and again, the officer said there was nothing they could do. So the fiancee' did the only sensible thing, she wrote the press.

And good old KARE 11 jumped on it. http://www.kare11.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=842648

(ps- I don't condone the confrontation, as the cops were very right in saying it could turned into a potentially dangerous situation. I just thought this was cool how the GPS was kind of like a Spider-Tracer. I also still think it's f#cked up that any cell phone users can be found. Spooky) +


***UPDATE***

Said co-worker told me this morning that the PO-lice are launching an investigation into the home and individual residing there in relation to potential criminal activities. Which I'm certain has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that this story received media coverage.

Nothing at all.