We've said it before, the NYPD can be a shady bunch

And we have more corroboration thanks to our friends at Gothamist. Rashad Lewis is not the most upstanding citizen in the city. He was pulled over outside Bloomingdales on a routine traffic violation with the NYPD finding allegedly bogus credit cards. Oddly this is where the police seem to get pretty, well, shady.

While he was locked up, his Mercedes-Benz was supposed to be impounded. Alas, Lewis later received a ticket in the mail showing a traffic camera photo of his car running a red light on 12th Avenue and West 34th Street. Now if Lewis wasn't driving it it had to be a police officer. Lewis said the police took it for a joyride, the police had another explanation. It was being driven to the NYC impound yard in Queens. BUT, according to Lewis' attorney the ticket given out was the car on its way to Brooklyn, NOT The NYPD impound yard in Queens where he claimed his vehicle. Lewis also said when he got his car back it was dinged up and scratched.

It gets shadier people.

Lewis also has his iPhone taken by the police when he was arrested. So not only does it sure look like his Mercedes Benz was taken for a joyride, NYPD tried to take his iPhone on a joyride too. Lewis uses the app IGotYa which takes a photo of anyone who tries to enter the incorrect passcode on the phone and emails the pics to the owner.  If you follow this link you can see the cops trying to access Lewis' Iphone. Now the cops excuse (They always have excuses don't they?) is they were only trying to turn off the phone. Yeah, uh-huh, pull this one it plays jingle bells. You do NOT need to enter a pass code to turn off an iPhone. Johnny just did it three times to be certain. He's got the cop recording apps as well so hence the safety pass code, where video and pics are uploaded to his private email accounts. So the cops weren't trying to turn his phone off, that's a ridiculous claim. We can't say for sure but it would be our guess they wanted the information inside the phone, you know, a little warrantless snooping. That's just a guess but it sure makes a lot more sense than they were turning it off.

People, put a pass code on your phone, whether you decide to put recording apps on it that are sent to you secretly or you just want to protect your data, backup your phones and keep that pass code on it. Do NOT give the cops your passcode should they stop you. They need a warrant (as did the cops in NYC but we digress). Your passcode is to keep YOUR vital information safe and if cops (let alone typical lowlife crooks) would take your car on a joyride while you're locked up don't think for a second they won't "use" your phone.