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Carpenter's AirTags help uncover 'massive' case of stolen tools in Maryland

washingtonpost.com

101–110 of 338 posts

Re: Carpenter's AirTags help uncover 'massive' case of stolen tools in Maryland

#101
post #11

> He called police, who got a search warrant Kind of sad, that I was surprised they did that. It's definitely a local thing. I'd expect the police to shrug, and say it's too bad, just file a report to use for insurance. I remember people saying "so what if you have tags, police won't do anything and you shouldn't be confronting thieves anyway". Apple, on the other hand, is also explicit about tags not to be used as a…

I lived in Howard County for a year. With the combination of county income tax and affluent property taxes, every service was exceptionally well funded. Having lived in Mountain View & Sunnyvale, CA as well for a decade my experience was Howard County itself had quicker and better services than those cities. It doesn't surprise me at all that their police department is competent and helpful.

My buddy got his bike stolen in Mountain View. Not only did the police find his bike they also arrested the thief.

Another buddy was woken up one night by a drunken stranger pounding on his door. He called the MVPD and within 5 minutes 3 squad cars showed up.

I used to live in Dallas. One night an entire floor of cars parked in my apartment garage was broken into. I called the police and reported it. Then I asked when they're coming and if I should stick around to wait for them. They told me they're not coming. The next night, the thieves returned and broke into all the cars on the next garage level.

Funding really matters. Mountain View is one of the handful of cities in the country with a triple-A municipal bond rating.

Re: Carpenter's AirTags help uncover 'massive' case of stolen tools in Maryland

#102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Even if each of the victims reported them to the police, the value of the items from each theft wouldn't add up to much in the grand scheme of things. I don't think you know how expensive commercial power tools and accessories are.. They cited 15k items with a range of 3-5 million. At 3 million that's $200 an item. Hardly peanuts. The article also says the tools likely came from a variety of sources

I don't think you know anything about me to claim I don't know the value of tools commercial or not. I have quite the collection, come from a family of construction where my grandfather was a custom cabinet maker where I grew up in his woodshop. It's amazing how people just assume so wildly wrong. Even at $200, that doesn't even qualify as anything more than a misdemeanor. The police are just not going to care if the…

[deleted]

Re: Carpenter's AirTags help uncover 'massive' case of stolen tools in Maryland

#103
post #11

> He called police, who got a search warrant Kind of sad, that I was surprised they did that. It's definitely a local thing. I'd expect the police to shrug, and say it's too bad, just file a report to use for insurance. I remember people saying "so what if you have tags, police won't do anything and you shouldn't be confronting thieves anyway". Apple, on the other hand, is also explicit about tags not to be used as a…

>> Kind of sad, that I was surprised they did that. It's definitely a local thing. I'd expect the police to shrug, and say it's too bad, just file a report to use for insurance.

Two years ago, WhistlinDiesel youtuber used trail camera's and his air tags to bust his neighbors stealing from him. It took a few calls, but he got it done. He was smart and used the cops as mediators and didn't just go over and start yelling at the dude to get his stuff back.

https://youtu.be/rnFOWvAAapU?si=lqkQBFijR3U2UdSJ

Re: Carpenter's AirTags help uncover 'massive' case of stolen tools in Maryland

#104
post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is the brand with the best reputation these days?

Pick the color you like best of the reputable manufactures.

I spent hours researching the various pro-sumer level brands when upgrading my tool collection this winter. And settled on Milwaukee. Because red. Ok fine, their track saw played a part. But mostly red.

Re: Carpenter's AirTags help uncover 'massive' case of stolen tools in Maryland

#106
post #11

> He called police, who got a search warrant Kind of sad, that I was surprised they did that. It's definitely a local thing. I'd expect the police to shrug, and say it's too bad, just file a report to use for insurance. I remember people saying "so what if you have tags, police won't do anything and you shouldn't be confronting thieves anyway". Apple, on the other hand, is also explicit about tags not to be used as a…

In California, they definitely wouldn't do anything.

Re: Carpenter's AirTags help uncover 'massive' case of stolen tools in Maryland

#107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I lived in Howard County for a year. With the combination of county income tax and affluent property taxes, every service was exceptionally well funded. Having lived in Mountain View & Sunnyvale, CA as well for a decade my experience was Howard County itself had quicker and better services than those cities. It doesn't surprise me at all that their police department is competent and helpful.

My buddy got his bike stolen in Mountain View. Not only did the police find his bike they also arrested the thief. Another buddy was woken up one night by a drunken stranger pounding on his door. He called the MVPD and within 5 minutes 3 squad cars showed up. I used to live in Dallas. One night an entire floor of cars parked in my apartment garage was broken into. I called the police and reported it. Then I asked whe…

> Mountain View is one of the handful of cities in the country with a triple-A municipal bond rating.

Having Google headquartered there probably helped their finances.

Re: Carpenter's AirTags help uncover 'massive' case of stolen tools in Maryland

#109
post #105

The thieves would've gotten away with it if they had iPhones. They would receive notification saying an airtag was traveling with them.

Which has a benefit of alerting you if a stalker has planted an airtag on you or your car or something

Re: Carpenter's AirTags help uncover 'massive' case of stolen tools in Maryland

#110
post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, and then people act like the flea market is some precious cornerstone of the local culture. In my city there is a flea market that has dozens of freshly stolen bikes every week. There's a fund where people buy back the bikes and reunite them with their owners. Unfortunately, there's no fund supporting violence against these bike thieves.

Violence for property crime is a bit 18th century, no? I've been robbed, and wanted to inflict violence in the heat of the moment, but cooler heads... prison would be fine, and you know, civilized.

Prison in the US is hardly civilized.
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