Not worth ? That would be true, if the high percentage of return-stories ended up in "judges" and "DA's".
But .... seriously ... can you point to a single instance of "judges" and "DA's" coming-about d/t an md'r finding (and attempting to return) a cell-phone ? Aside from a few "shark-attack" stories ?
I bet you can't .
Let's put it this way: If YOU ever lost your smart phone (complete with pictures, etc...) would you want someone to attempt to return it ? I bet you would .
And ... sure ... "giving it to the nearest cop or lifeguard" is certainly an option. However, I have heard of stories where ... quite honestly ... they make very little effort to find the owners. Especially with police L&F depts, which have "bigger fish to fry".
For example: I have heard of class rings easily united to owners by md'rs, that police L&F dept's supposedly hit a "dead-end" on.