SFPD Internal Investigation Over Lost iPhone 5 Continues

The San Francisco Police Department's internal investigation into Apple's lost iPhone 5 prototype continues -- but not to get the phone back. Instead, the SFPD's internal affairs division is still looking into what role officers played in helping Apple employees search for the phone after it went missing at Cava 22, a restaurant and bar in San Francisco's Mission District.

The owner of Cava 22 told CNET that police investigators had called the restaurant looking for surveillance video from July 21 and 22; most likely the day the phone went missing and the day after, when Apple employees were hunting for the device.

Initially, San Francisco police denied any involvement in the hunt for the phone. It was later revealed that police did assist Apple investigators in looking for the device, even accompanying them to the home of a suspect, but claim Apple employees searched the suspect's house, with permission.

Lt. Troy Dangerfield, a spokesman for SFPD, said he wasn't aware that investigators had gone to the bar or were looking for the videos. But he said that since Apple had not filed a police report, he was sure that there was no criminal investigation connected to the missing device. "In order for there to be a crime, you need a victim," Dangerfield said. He concluded that the request by police for the surveillance footage was likely part of the internal review launched this month by department officials into how police assisted Apple in a search of a home on July 24.

Sergio Calderon, the man whose home, car and computer was searched by Apple employees, confirmed to police that he was at Cava 22 that night, but denied having possession of the phone.

CNET reports that Calderon has not filed a complaint with the SFPD nor the city's Office of Citizen Complaints, which handles claims of police misconduct in San Francisco.