How many people have called their local police station about a stolen cell phone or laptop, only to be told by the authorities that they have more pressing issues at hand?

Well, Berkeley Police Chief Michael Meehan has opened himself up to a new round of controversy after it was reported that he dispatched 10 officers to look for his son's missing iPhone.

And they didn't even find it.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports that when Meehan's high-school son announced that his phone had been taken from his locker at Berkeley High School, several officers were dispatched to look for the phone, which was equipped with tracking software.

"It is common for BPD officers to actively investigate an in-progress tracking signal from a stolen electronic device," police department spokeswoman Sgt. Mary Kusmiss told the paper.

However, officers apparently did not actually file a report about the incident, which occurred in January, which Kusmiss described as "an oversight that came to our attention" after questions from the Chronicle.

Officers from the property crimes and drug task force departments were assigned to the missing phone case, according to Kusmiss. In addition, four detectives were paid overtime for two hours of the unsuccessful search.

Meehan has so far declined to comment publicly on the incident and is already embroiled in a controversy after he allegedly sent Kusmiss to the home of a reporter after midnight, demanding a change to a story reported about the chief.



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