Berkeley Police Chief Michael Meehan is back on the defensive, saying that the use of 10 officers – four of whom were earning overtime – to try to locate his son’s stolen iPhone was not unusual or improper.

In two other cases, Berkeley police have used at least 10 officers to locate a stole iProduct. One such case involved 11 officers – including a crime scene technician, six patrol officers, and four detectives – went looking for a stole iPad. The number of officers used on a particular case is not the decision of a chief, but rather the field supervisors who must assign officers based upon resources available.

Chief Meehan went on to say that all Berkeley residents should expect that same response, if possible.

From the Oakland Tribune:

Denying that his son received preferential treatment, the Berkeley police chief Wednesday defended using 10 officers to knock on doors in search of the teen’s stolen cellphone.

Chief Michael Meehan distanced himself from the decision to use 10 officers, including four — three police detectives and a sergeant — who each logged two hours of overtime during the search in January that took them into Oakland. He said field supervisors decide how many officers to deploy based on how busy police are and available staff.

Read the full article here.