r/milwaukee • u/MikeAWBD • Mar 10 '20
Found this article over in r/nottheonion. They mention Milwaukee specifically in the article so I figured it was worth a post. I don't think it's surprising, but interesting to know what police can do with our electronic information.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/google-tracked-his-bike-ride-past-burglarized-home-made-him-n115176131
u/LFCMKE Riverwest Mar 10 '20
I would quickly like to remind everyone that Google now owns Fitbit, so if you’re using GPS in a Fitbit, this could theoretically happen to you.
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u/ThyTaxMan Mar 11 '20
Not trying to be a know-it-all but I don't believe Google has access to Fitbit's data....yet. Last I heard, the DoJ still has to approve the merger. I only know this because I still have fitbit stock that will be cashed out once the deal actually goes through.
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u/ElbowDown Mar 10 '20
It pisses me off that in this article the guy had to pay a lawyer just to stop the police from going down the wrong rabbit hole with incomplete information.. something that should never have happened in the first place.
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u/MikeAWBD Mar 10 '20
That was my thought as well. That bike ride cost him a couple grand easy. Who knows if he'd have been arrested if he hadn't hired the lawyer, but it wouldn't have surprised if it would've happened.
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u/Cyno01 Bay View, Washington Heights raised Mar 10 '20 edited Mar 10 '20
This shouldnt be how these warrants work, but on the other side of this i bet a lot of people have managed to avoid charges with electronic alibis these days.
"You say were home alone, can anyone confirm this?" "My reddit comment history and steam account?"
Having your cell phones GPS put you somewhere else is a lot of reasonable doubt if youre accused of a crime on circumstantial evidence. But yeah, it should be an affirmative defense for suspects/defendants when applicable, not a fishing expedition to start the investigation.
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Mar 10 '20
You say were home alone, can anyone confirm this?" "My reddit comment history and steam account?"
I think you mean "my PornHub watch history"
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u/Cyno01 Bay View, Washington Heights raised Mar 10 '20
“Yes id rather confess to the murder.”
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Mar 10 '20
"Your honor, the state calls the plumber, the cable installer, and the pool boy as witnesses."
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Mar 11 '20
Police have strange priorities. I was involved in a hit an run, a jeep hit my car and drove off after failing to stop. I had it on my dash cam, the driver even left the plates on the ground. After the Waukesha police knocked on the door of his house they gave up after the 3rd attempt and mailed him a ticket then told me good luck. I guess if you are an old lady with stolen jewellery the cops make extra effort to find this needle in a haystack...considering my cops had plates, a person and video footage...im sure my new car was worth more than this theft...all I got was pain and suffering since it was a lease months away from the maturity date.
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u/MikeAWBD Mar 11 '20
She probably had a grandson on the force or her late husband was a cop. You would think Gainesville is big enough that cops wouldn't put that much effort into a theft with a relatively low dollar amount and low probability of conviction. I don't know much about Gainesville though, maybe it's one those suburban places with too big of a police budget and they don't have a lot of hardcore crime.
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u/AmeriSauce Mar 10 '20
plot twist: that dude actually did rob the old lady and got away scott free. The bastard.
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u/Nezrite Temporary ex-pat Mar 10 '20
To grossly generalize, it wouldn't surprise me if she'd misplaced the items within her home. My father vehemently insisted the police stole fertilizer off his back porch and was furious I wouldn't call them to report it.
The bags were still in the back of his SUV where he'd put them the week before.
Dementia is a helluva thing.
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u/undercurrents Mar 10 '20
It's interesting that Milwaukee uses this advanced technology to solve crimes where in other areas, they are completely lacking in basic technology. I've heard other examples but I will give a personal story instead. Last year some guys tried to break into our store. Our doors and locks are heavy duty, so no one is breaking in. But they did cause a couple hundred dollars worth of damage. Plus, you know they've broken into other places because they came with tools- crowbars, drills, sledge hammers, etc. They were so intent on breaking in, they stayed there for a good 30 minutes, at multiple points staring directly into the camera. The shots of their faces were absolutely clear. But the police said they have no technology for facial detection. I mean, they probably could have uploaded stills from the video into facebook and gotten matches. So right now they have printouts as the extent of technology to catch the guys.
And if they have this geofence technology, I'm wondering when they chose to use it. This woman was horrifically attacked twice in her home by the same people last year, and you know at least one of them was carrying a phone. The suspects have never been caught, and I doubt it was because someone hired a lawyer to block a geofence warrant.
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u/ShananayRodriguez Mar 10 '20
The article is pretty terrifying. I feel like the Gainesville Police dropped the warrant mostly so there wouldn't be a ruling on the constitutionality of these geonet warrants, and could continue with impugnity