A reader’s husband had his iPhone stolen on Tuesday, April 1. Thanks to phone tracking, they knew where it was. They tried to get the police to go after it. The police didn’t seem interested. Is this a case of “Big city, a lot of crime” or a missed opportunity? Read the letter below and a response from a West Philly police officer.

If West Philly police want to stop crime, why do they take it so lightly?

My husband’s iPhone was stolen last night. This morning, the thief called one of the contacts in the phone book on the phone, someone who happens to live nearby. Our friend took the bait to buy it back trying to be helpful. In a park at 48th & Lancaster, he gave the guy $20. The guy threw him just the case and ran away. Our friend came to our house at 5am today to tell us the story. We tracked the phone on “find my iPhone”. Seeing it still at the same park, but starting to move down 48th St, we called 911. When asked what to expect, they said an officer will call us within an hour to take a report. I pointed out that we knew where a thief was located at this minute. I was given attitude, “It’s just a stolen phone, ma’am.” I pointed out that I am the one trying to be helpful if police want to affect crime in the area. The 911 operator backed down a bit and said that it’s not how it works. Police do not go retrieve stolen phones. They will take our statement for our insurance purposes.

I know it is just a phone. But really!? We received the same attitude after a break-in to our house in 2005 – “here is the statement for your insurance”. As for the phone, we locked it, so he had no choice but to call us and try to sell it back, stating he just purchased it on 46th & Market, but that is silly, as we were tracking it. Even if I played along, I did not feel comfortable for either of us to meet him. I offered him a chance to be a nice person and leave it at a business for us, but I guess he’ll sell it somewhere and we will buy a new one.

Seems like a missed opportunity by the police to me. Should we do something different next time?

Here’s a response from officer Joe Murray from the Southwest Police Detectives.

The only thing I’ll refute is that we definitely don’t take crime lightly. This is the dispatcher’s fault and we would obviously love to track the phone. They have every right to feel outraged.

The only thing I’d do differently is drive right to the district or Southwest Detectives and tell a cop directly. It’s happened before and we’ve gone out and recovered the phone.