Almost made it

"You may have lost us jumping those fences. But you dropped something" isn't Hey we found your phone, come pick it up. @Scatmandingo. I fail to see may have dropped something anywhere in the post. It's a direct statement that the individual dropped something. And since they didn't catch anyone they have no evidence that the individual did. So if you lose your phone and a person picks it up and runs from the police and the person drops it. It's all fun and games if the police post on your social media , right?

You’re right, I read that incorrectly. I interpreted it as we found your phone when we were chasing someone. I don’t see this as any grounds for a civil suit though.

So posting that on someone's social status without permission as a representative of the police isn't an invasion of privacy or misuse of authority? They had no right to post on anybody's social media just because they had a phone. It's clearly a violation of civil rights and should result in civil court action.

The phone was dropped in the commission of a crime as is therefore evidence. Let’s say it was a purse instead. They are allowed to open the purse to investigate. If they find an address book or a business card they are permitted to call those numbers as part of their investigation and they are allowed to tell the people who answered to let the owner know that they can pick it up at the police station. Basically that’s what they did here. Now you can say they are accusing him of a crime because they didn’t say “allegedly” but I doubt that’s worth a lawsuit.

In fact, now that I think about it, if they find evidence of a crime in the phone that’s admissible in court.