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"Apple Picking" -- the national trend of snatching iPhones from preoccupied victims as they talk or text -- has hit downtown Detroit.
Officially, Detroit police are investigating two recent incidents. But police officers and other knowledgeable officials downtown say there have been several iPhones or iPads stolen out of people's hands in the past few weeks. Some victims might not have reported the thefts.
At noon Thursday, according to the DPD's Sgt. Eren Stephenson, the victim was talking on an iPhone when the suspect ran up, grabbed the phone out of his hand and escaped in a waiting vehicle.
A number of people witnessed the incident, which took place at Monroe and Farmer in the busy Campus Martius area, and word of it spread quickly among downtown workers.
At 5:15 p.m. July 15, Stephens said, a victim was talking on her phone at Woodward and State when the suspect grabbed it from her hand and kept running.
One day in late July, according to a Detroit police officer, a downtown worker was walking near Campus Martius while holding an iPad when a man came up and popped it out his hand. The victim fought back, though, and the perpetrators fled.
Nationally, police have reported a surge in thefts of smartphones and tablet computers, especially iPhones and iPads. Apple Picking is particularly prevalent in places like New York and other big cities with concentrations of young people with the popular devices walking on streets, parks and subways.
Many stolen phones are shipped around the globe and sold in Latin America, Eastern Europe and Asia.
Detroit's central business district, one of the safest neighborhoods in the city, has seen an influx of several thousand mainly young workers in the past year.
On Campus Martius Friday afternoon, people used their cell phones and appeared oblivious to any potential threat.
"You wouldn't think someone would get that close to you to take your phone," said Quicken Loans employee Stephanie Russell, 23.
"I'll definitely think twice before taking my phone out of my purse. It's certainly concerning."
Elina Gelfand, 40, said: "People are addicted to their cell phones. People text when they're driving, so they won't change.
"I've never had any problems with security downtown. Not at all."
