Apple "Find My" app led a Missouri SWAT team to raid an innocent family's home, lawsuit pending

[Daniel Sims]

Facepalm: Apple's "Find My" feature has helped many users locate their lost devices. Cupertino engineers certainly didn't design the app to help police track down gangs, but that didn't stop Missouri police officers from using it to conduct a raid last May, with disastrous consequences.

A Ferguson, Missouri family is suing the St. Louis County Police after a SWAT team raided and ransacked their home based on information from "Find My," the functionality that helps Apple users find lost or stolen devices. The lawsuit claims that the software lacks the accuracy to pinpoint a device to a specific address.

The Riverside Times notes that Brittany Shamily was at home with her children, including a three-month-old, when officers in full tactical gear burst through her front door with a battering ram last May. They pointed their weapons at Shamily's husband, Lindell Briscoe, who was sleeping in his work truck in the driveway with the other children.

The officers were looking for weapons and material related to a carjacking that had occurred that morning. They spent half an hour turning over drawers and causing other damage before leaving empty-handed. One officer reportedly punched a hole in a wall, while another broke through a drop ceiling.

Earlier that day, about 16 miles away in South County, six people reportedly stole a Dodge Charger outside a Waffle House. At the scene, a friend of the car's owners told police that their AirPods were in the vehicle and suggested using Find My to track them. Apple's tracking system led the officers to Shamily's home. Authorities then sought a search warrant, suspecting firearms to be in the residence.

After the mistaken raid, police found the AirPods lying on the street outside the house. One of Brittany and Briscoe's daughters later reported seeing what might have been the stolen Charger speeding through the neighborhood. One of the carjackers might have thrown the AirPods out of the window near the house. Later that day, the perpetrators crashed the car about six miles away.

The lawsuit states that Apple's tracking feature did not provide sufficient probable cause for an armed raid. It's unknown whether the issuing judge knew that SWAT had sourced the location on the warrant application from the Find My app. The family's lawyer said this case exemplifies the overuse of SWAT teams.

Image credit: The Riverside Times

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https://www.techspot.com/news/102405-apple-find-app-led-missouri-swat-team-raid.html

 

[human7]

Less of a problem with Apple, more an issue with police reaction and the fact that they don't have to pay for the stuff that they break. When police break things, they should have to pay for it unless arrests and convictions happen. Timbs v. Indiana can and should be broadened to include these scenarios.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

"The family's lawyer said this case exemplifies the overuse of SWAT teams."
No. I know the family is probably traumatized, but armed carjackers taking up residence in a house is a perfect application of SWAT. They are not exactly known to be friendly, and contrary to popular belief we dont really want to have a few cops slayed before sending in SWAT.

Less of a problem with Apple, more an issue with police reaction and the fact that they don't have to pay for the stuff that they break. When police break things, they should have to pay for it unless arrests and convictions happen. Timbs v. Indiana can and should be broadened to include these scenarios.

Agreed. They should be responsible for all repairs and other associated costs.

 

[bandit8623]

Let me tell you if they came in my home they have a bullet waiting

 

[rhavenn]

"The family's lawyer said this case exemplifies the overuse of SWAT teams."
No. I know the family is probably traumatized, but armed carjackers taking up residence in a house is a perfect application of SWAT. They are not exactly known to be friendly, and contrary to popular belief we dont really want to have a few cops slayed before sending in SWAT.

Agreed. They should be responsible for all repairs and other associated costs.

Yes, but they hadn't taken up residence in the house and the AirTags probably worked fine and had they spent 5 minutes looking around they probably would have found them in the lawn beforehand or spent 10 minutes doing some basic surveillance they probably would have noticed dad sleeping in his truck with kids and/or that there weren't in-fact armed people in the house at all.

Cops just wanted an excuse to kick a door down and clearly there weren't "armed car jackers" in the house which they should have noticed 10 seconds after kicking said door in. I'll give you the door and "oops..our bad", but the hole in the wall, damage to the ceiling, and going through drawers and ****. No..cops were just being power hungry *******s as per usual.

Officers are clearly trained that everyone is out to kill them and they should shoot first when that just isn't the case at all even in the US with all its guns. As with guns..the US police training is 1) totally insufficent, 2) filled people who washed out of the military and/or are just power hungry. I know it's not SWAT, but the average cop in the US has 21 weeks (less than half-a-year) of training. Most other developed countries it requires way more than that. We also manage to have our cops kill WAY more people than any other country. Just maybe we should hold them to a higher standard?

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-56834733

 

[Godel]

Let me tell you if they came in my home they have a bullet waiting

Asinine. If you pulled a gun on a fully equipped SWAT team with body armor and automatic assault weapons you'd be chewed up to minced meat, probably along with any unarmed members of your family that happened to be in the room at the time.

 

[bandit8623]

Asinine. If you pulled a gun on a fully equipped SWAT team with body armor and automatic assault weapons you'd be chewed up to minced meat, probably along with any unarmed members of your family that happened to be in the room at the time.

thats why I said bullet. who says my family is unarmed?

 

[Theinsanegamer]

thats why I said bullet. who says my family is unarmed?

That doesnt dispute the fact that your whole family would get torn to shreds.

Realistically this shows why the police need to do more due diligence before pulling off something like this. It really never occurred to them the thieves could find the airpods and use them to throw the cops off?

 

[bandit8623]

That doesnt dispute the fact that your whole family would get torn to shreds.

Realistically this shows why the police need to do more due diligence before pulling off something like this. It really never occurred to them the thieves could find the airpods and use them to throw the cops off?

I have a bazooka

 

[loki1944]

Asinine. If you pulled a gun on a fully equipped SWAT team with body armor and automatic assault weapons you'd be chewed up to minced meat, probably along with any unarmed members of your family that happened to be in the room at the time.

you realize that body armor is far from impenetrable right; I've how ineffective it can be against a slug with serious speed.

 

[DirtyLoad]

you realize that body armor is far from impenetrable right; I've how ineffective it can be against a slug with serious speed.

If they have level 4 body armor it will stop anything less than .50 cal. Or maybe .338 Lapua.

 

[wiyosaya]

Let me tell you if they came in my home they have a bullet waiting

I have a bazooka

thats why I said bullet. who says my family is unarmed?

you realize that body armor is far from impenetrable right; I've how ineffective it can be against a slug with serious speed.

Ah the gun-toting "I'm invincible cause I have my gun I'm totin'' crowd just doesn't realize that they would be torn to shreds even if they were able to take down a few cops. Cops have radios and there would be an unstoppable force on the way. Just ask the Bundys about that.

But feel free to try the **** you're talking if this ever happens to you. I assure you, there's a Darwin Award waiting for you if you do.

 

[Squid Surprise]

"The family's lawyer said this case exemplifies the overuse of SWAT teams."
No. I know the family is probably traumatized, but armed carjackers taking up residence in a house is a perfect application of SWAT. They are not exactly known to be friendly, and contrary to popular belief we dont really want to have a few cops slayed before sending in SWAT.

They really need to have some evidence other than "find my" said it was at this address...
You only need SWAT once you're CERTAIN that there are armed criminals inside a residence.

Let me tell you if they came in my home they have a bullet waiting

Yeah... this is why firearms really need to be illegal for private citizens - and the reason why cops are so trigger happy in the first place. Even with an entire arsenal at your disposal (which sadly, in the US is actually legal to obtain), the police, if you somehow defeat them, will simply call reinforcements.

The antiquated "I need guns in case the King of England invades" really no longer applies - if a foreign army actually does invade the US, your bazooka won't help...

 

[loki1944]

Ah the gun-toting "I'm invincible cause I have my gun I'm totin'' crowd just doesn't realize that they would be torn to shreds even if they were able to take down a few cops. Cops have radios and there would be an unstoppable force on the way. Just ask the Bundys about that.

But feel free to try the **** you're talking if this ever happens to you. I assure you, there's a Darwin Award waiting for you if you do.

no just seen it in Iraq; plates are hardly invincible; it's not a Terminator suit. I actually preferred not wearing them when I had the option not to later on as a PMC

 

[Squid Surprise]

no just seen it in Iraq; plates are hardly invincible; it's not a Terminator suit. I actually preferred not wearing them when I had the option not to later on as a PMC

So?
Let’s say you somehow shoot and kill an entire SWAT team that invades your house… what’s your next move? You think the cops will say “well, guess we’ll move on to someone else”?
They’re coming back… and eventually you’re gonna lose - and anyone in your home at the time is probably dying with you… cause after you shoot a cop, you’re not getting out of it alive.

 

[loki1944]

Ah the gun-toting "I'm invincible cause I have my gun I'm totin'' crowd just doesn't realize that they would be torn to shreds even if they were able to take down a few cops. Cops have radios and there would be an unstoppable force on the way. Just ask the Bundys about that.

But feel free to try the **** you're talking if this ever happens to you. I assure you, there's a Darwin Award waiting for you if you do.

no just seen it in Iraq; frankly I was pretty happy I didn't have to wear any of that crap later on as a PMC

 

[takaozo]

Real life is not GTA V...

 

[brucek]

How violent was the original car theft to require this level of SWAT response? The article doesn't mention any violence or even the presence of a weapon.

Did any of the people in the home match the descriptions of those involved?

I feel like if they sent a couple of well-experienced officers in investigative vs. SWAT mode, the whole thing could've gone much better. If they really needed it they could even have had the SWAT team pre-positioned to support them if needed, just not immediately engaged.

Interesting that ultimately Find My... was right - they just didn't see the AirPods as they charged in to raid the house.

 

[whateversa]

If you make law enforcement avoid raids or risk, you are more likely to be a victim of violent crime - because its violent criminals that they are hunting down and mistakes will happen. Yes they must pay for damaged property and perhaps in some cases some penalty fee. Also the tracking service they mention here has also probably been used many times very successfully to track down criminals.

 

[hahahanoobs]

Let's settle this!

 

[umeng2002]

More of an issue with judges rubber stamping warrants.

 

[VaRmeNsI]

They really need to have some evidence other than "find my" said it was at this address...
You only need SWAT once you're CERTAIN that there are armed criminals inside a residence.


Yeah... this is why firearms really need to be illegal for private citizens - and the reason why cops are so trigger happy in the first place. Even with an entire arsenal at your disposal (which sadly, in the US is actually legal to obtain), the police, if you somehow defeat them, will simply call reinforcements.

The antiquated "I need guns in case the King of England invades" really no longer applies - if a foreign army actually does invade the US, your bazooka won't help...

Last time I checked carjackers don't follow the law so making them illegal...

 

[Endymio]

The antiquated "I need guns in case the King of England invades" really no longer applies - if a foreign army actually does invade the US, your bazooka won't help...

And yet, when Russia invaded Ukraine, one of the Biden's first moves was to send the citizens of that country thousands of rifles, pistols, and shotguns, along with 20 million rounds of small-arms ammunition -- all of it for weapons substantially less powerful than "a bazooka". According to Kiev, it was extremely helpful.

 

[Trapped Nowhere]

I don't understand the obsession with stealing chargers.

 

[loki1944]

So?
Let’s say you somehow shoot and kill an entire SWAT team that invades your house… what’s your next move? You think the cops will say “well, guess we’ll move on to someone else”?
They’re coming back… and eventually you’re gonna lose - and anyone in your home at the time is probably dying with you… cause after you shoot a cop, you’re not getting out of it alive.

My point is simply the overimpression with body armor is misplaced; the most pertinent point though is get your intel right so you don't violate individual freedom by raiding a house with 0 cause besides sucking at proper intel.