Lost my iPhone at work today

[janej]

Ride,

We did try to call the phone many times before locking it. I thought I misplaced it somewhere. So my coworkers called the number and tried to see if it was in the office somewhere. My coworker also sent a text message with his number for the person to contact him to return the phone. I locked it as soon as I found it was in Maryland already. I probably did not give her enough time before I lock the phone, but I really can't risk letting my information sit on a stranger's hand.

I did give her half day yesterday to turn in the phone to the security and thanked her in advance. I tested the send message function with my husband's phone and made sure it worked with a locked phone. With the alarm sound, there is no way that message was missed.

I honestly do not think the person was scared away. By the way, the phone was not left in the bathroom after hours. I found the phone missing at 4pm. It was last used at 2pm.

 

[heathpack]

Without getting controversial - I would hope we could agree that the folks who work at DHS are "just folks" and don't have any special claim to higher ethics or morals than the average citizen.
JMHO

Agreed people who work for Homeland Security are just folks. However, many employees need that work in sensitive areas like the dept of HS need security clearance for very good reason. For example, when I was in college, I had a summer job working for a defense contractor- I was a temporary employee troubleshooting the reason why (hundreds of) a certain part of a radar system had passed inspection repeatedly despite being non-functional. The radar system was for the B1 bomber. The security clearance was presumably to ensure that I was not inclined toward thievery. Stealing information about the radar system of the B1 bomber would have been more lucrative than stealing an iPhone.

I would imagine that there are similarly more valuable things to steal from Dept of Homeland Security. So, no, DHS employees do not need to be better people ethically or morally than folks that work elsewhere. But their established pattern of behavior reasonaly should not include theft.

H

 

[pjrose]

A. . . For example, when I was in college, I had a summer job working for a defense contractor- I was a temporary employee troubleshooting the reason why (hundreds of) a certain part of a radar system had passed inspection repeatedly despite being non-functional. The radar system was for the B1 bomber. . . .

Wow - did you figure it out?

 

[Ridewithme38]

I would imagine that there are similarly more valuable things to steal from Dept of Homeland Security. So, no, DHS employees do not need to be better people ethically or morally than folks that work elsewhere. But their established pattern of behavior reasonaly should not include theft.

H

Would be nice if it was 'established pattern of behavior' these places checked...I had a bit of a problem getting a job anywhere until i was in my 20's, not because of an 'established pattern of behavior' but from a few misguided teenage mistakes....BUT, i'd say BECAUSE of those teenage mistakes i'm less likely to reproduce those behaviors...

IMO, the one most likely to steal or lie or kill, is the one that has never suffered the consequences for those actions...granted general societal beliefs disagree with me, with the whole 'a criminal is a criminal is a criminal' but i know ALOT of people that prove that theory wrong...don't forget, for along time society believed the world was flat also

(this may also explain why i seem to always be defending the accused)

 

[SueDonJ]

... For example, when I was in college, I had a summer job working for a defense contractor- I was a temporary employee troubleshooting the reason why (hundreds of) a certain part of a radar system had passed inspection repeatedly despite being non-functional. The radar system was for the B1 bomber.

Wow - did you figure it out?

More importantly, did you take the parts home with you while you were working on them, to keep them more protected than the lousy security force at the defense contractor's could have?

 

[SueDonJ]

Would be nice if it was 'established pattern of behavior' these places checked...I had a bit of a problem getting a job anywhere until i was in my 20's, not because of an 'established pattern of behavior' but from a few misguided teenage mistakes....BUT, i'd say BECAUSE of those teenage mistakes i'm less likely to reproduce those behaviors...

IMO, the one most likely to steal or lie or kill, is the one that has never suffered the consequences for those actions...granted general societal beliefs disagree with me, with the whole 'a criminal is a criminal is a criminal' but i know ALOT of people that prove that theory wrong...don't forget, for along time society believed the world was flat also

(this may also explain why i seem to always be defending the accused)

Nothing wrong with defending the accused, Ride, but they bear watching with wide open eyes. There's a reason recidivism rates are so high - not everyone who makes mistakes learns from them.

 

[DeniseM]

Ride - I can't wait until your daughter is a teenager and starts hanging out with those fascinating bad boys who are involved in a few youthful indiscretions. Me thinks your outlook on this subject will change 180º

"Mr. Ride, This is Sargent John Doe, can you please come down to the station to pick up your underage daughter? We just arrested her boyfriend for XYZ and she was in the car. BTW, did you know there is a curfew for minors?"

Girls will be girls, right?

:rofl:

 

[Ridewithme38]

Ride - I can't wait until your daughter is a teenager and starts hanging out with those fascinating bad boys who are involved in a few youthful indiscretions. Me thinks your outlook on this subject will change 180º

"Mr. Ride, This is Sargent John Doe, can you please come down to the station to pick up your underage daughter? We just arrested her boyfriend for XYZ and she was in the car."

Girls will be girls, right?

:rofl:

I'm sending her to a nunnery(they still have those right?) as soon as she shows any interest in boys!

 

[DeniseM]

I'm sending her to a nunnery(they still have those right?) as soon as she shows any interest in boys!

Yes - they have convent schools in Mexico! Better send her before she hits 12, to be safe. In other words, your life will be over in 6 years!

 

[heathpack]

Wow - did you figure it out?

Yes, at a certain point in production, the parts were to go into static bags, the static from human hands would make them non-functional if they were touched from that point on.

The company making the radar system ran out of static bags but kept producing the parts for quite some time (a few months I think). Each part was worth thousands of dollars and I had hundreds of them to trace. It was a big boondoggle.

H

 

[heathpack]

More importantly, did you take the parts home with you while you were working on them, to keep them more protected than the lousy security force at the defense contractor's could have?

No, I was locked in a metal cage all day long with these parts- taking one out of the building would have been a very big deal, indeed- no one was allowed into or out of my cage. I was a temp employee and probably what I found was going to result in one or more inspectors/engineers either being fired or getting a pretty serious reprimand. They needed a temp employee because I didn't know anyone there and had no friendships to lose over the issue. It was hundreds of thousands of dollars wasted. I would sit in my metal cage on the production floor, they could see me working away, I could see them working away. It was awkward to say the least.

H

 

[zinger1457]

For example, when I was in college, I had a summer job working for a defense contractor- I was a temporary employee troubleshooting the reason why (hundreds of) a certain part of a radar system had passed inspection repeatedly despite being non-functional. The radar system was for the B1 bomber. The security clearance was presumably to ensure that I was not inclined toward thievery.
H

Was this with Hughes? I worked as an engineer for them in the 80's. I had a friend who worked for their radar group in El Segundo and it was over a year before he could tell us the secret project he was working on was for the B1. It didn't happen often but if we ever ran into serious quality control problem the in house Air Force QA inspectors would be all over our a** and we would have a team of engineers working it until resolved.

 

[pwrshift]

I have FindMyiPhone installed on all of our iPhones. Great feature.

I installed this on my iPad and iPhone but not sure how it works. When I locate one of the devices it shows me a map but the location could be in a number of homes near me. Is there a way for it to pinpoint the actual location better?

Brian

 

[heathpack]

Was this with Hughes? I worked as an engineer for them in the 80's. I had a friend who worked for their radar group in El Segundo and it was over a year before he could tell us the secret project he was working on was for the B1. It didn't happen often but if we ever ran into serious quality control problem the in house Air Force QA inspectors would be all over our a** and we would have a team of engineers working it until resolved.

No it was a Raytheon subsidiary in NY. Supplied parts for whoever was actually building the radar system- Hughes apparently.

H

 

[janej]

I installed this on my iPad and iPhone but not sure how it works. When I locate one of the devices it shows me a map but the location could be in a number of homes near me. Is there a way for it to pinpoint the actual location better?

Brian

Brian,

Try switch to satellite view and zoom in. It should be pretty accurate. I learned that there is a very small window to recover the device. That is if your device is locked or the person who got the phone does not know how to turn off the app. The best thing one could do is to go to the property, use the play sound function of the app and hope you can find the phone there. Once iCloud is turned off, the app is useless.

 

[Ken555]

Its probably worth reminding everyone with an iPhone to set the phone to auto lock after x minutes of inactivity. I've got mine set to five minutes, after which time I need to enter my code to unlock. The code isn't necessary to answer a call, but only to use the phone apps or to make a call.

If the phone is locked then the thief won't be able to use it until they erase the phone (or discover your code), though they could power it off (that's what happened when my phone was stolen).

 

[Snorkey]

janej,

Which location do you work at in DHS?
Have you had the chance to post it on the wall in the kitchen?
Maybe we work at the same building.

11 years ago when I worked for DHS, I got things stolen from my desk drawer all the time.

I thought DHS would be the best place for not getting anything stolen but I was wrong.

Hope you will find them soon.

 

[icydog]

Earth...a friendly place full of well evolved humans, pack animals that are very emotional and when left to their own devices, chose to do the 'right thing'

Huh? She stole a phone and won't give it back. How's that the right thing?