Holy shit, my phone is in SF :( (Image: Apple)

SPD is taking a new tack to address situations CHS hears about on a regular basis throughout the East Precinct as owners track stolen phones and tablet computers — only to find police can do little to help get them back.

Chief Kathleen O’Toole will now make the department’s Technical and Electronic Support Unit available to SPD officers:

Effective today, a supervisor in the department’s Technical and Electronic Support Unit will be available to officers around the clock to guide them through the technically and legally complicated process of zeroing in on a stolen phone. Officers will now have a new resource available to help them locate stolen phones and get warrants, as they search for smartphones stolen in robberies, thefts and car prowls.

The announcement comes after a Seattle Times columnist documented his family’s experiences trying to recover a stolen phone they were able to track to a north Seattle parking lot. Long story, short, police said there was little they could do and that the family should stop risking their lives following the suspected thieves.

During yet another late summer street robbery surge on Capitol Hill, CHS reported on the smartphones as small, valuable targets for thieves. We also discovered that many of the crimes categorized as “pickpocket” incidents around Pike/Pine are actually phone grabs.

Not every attempt to track the stolen phones and computers ends in frustration. CHS crime reports occasionally feature incidents when the tracking technology could be put to use by officers to hear a ring from a suspect’s pocket or located a hiding place. In 2012, a victim was able to track her iPad to a 12th Ave location and help crack a stolen property trafficking operation.

The department is also trying to crack down on the fencing of the stolen electronics. Last month, SPD raided a South Seattle convenience store and discovered “250 smartphones and hundreds of cameras, computers, watches and instruments” stashed along with “$13,000 in cash, boxes of untaxed cigarettes illegally imported from Vietnam, and cabinets filled with bags of Khat.”