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

washingtonpost.com

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

#91

Post by m463 »

dmitrygr wrote: post #57
rdtsc wrote: 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…

"OK, I have a gun and I'll go get my stuff myself" is not illegal to say and 100% gets police to show up. Source: tried it more than once

some of that depends on the state/jurisdiction you're in.

I think in texas you can defend your self/loved ones/property with a gun.

In california, you can take a gun to the target range (in your trunk, unloaded). Not sure what else you can use a gun for except maybe get in trouble.

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

#92

Post by consumer451 »

jeffbee wrote: post #81
kube-system wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every flea market I have ever been to in my life always has some guy with a huge amount of lightly used and heavily assorted high-dollar power tools. Before Home Depot started putting tools in cages, I used to see a lot of craigslist/marketplace/etc postings for brand new and unopened tools, posted at amazing prices.

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.

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

#93

Post by elicash »

m463 wrote: post #82

> Though none of the prolific thieves has been arrested yet, why would they announce this without someone in custody?

Either they ran into a wall investigating and needed public help, or to get victims back what was stolen? Or, it says they expect charges soon, so maybe they waited until the investigation was over.

Just a guess, though.

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

#94

Post by kstrauser »

LeoPanthera wrote: post #79
kstrauser wrote: post #41

"But AirTags aren't for finding stolen things!", someone asserts every time someone mentions wanting to use AirTags for finding stolen things.

And q-tips aren't for cleaning ears, but what you gonna do.

Oh, I totally use them for the same thing. It's more that whenever this comes up, some people inevitably go off on tangents about how that's not what AirTags are used for, and we're crazy for using them for this (incredibly obvious) application.

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

#95

Post by fragmede »

m463 wrote: post #91
dmitrygr wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"OK, I have a gun and I'll go get my stuff myself" is not illegal to say and 100% gets police to show up. Source: tried it more than once

some of that depends on the state/jurisdiction you're in. I think in texas you can defend your self/loved ones/property with a gun. In california, you can take a gun to the target range (in your trunk, unloaded). Not sure what else you can use a gun for except maybe get in trouble.

California's not happy about guns existing, but if you're being attacked in your home, there are some limited carve outs.

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

#96

Post by 1024core »

PointyDog wrote: post #71
rdtsc wrote: 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.

You will find similar pockets of responsive police in areas like Piedmont (in Oakland), Atherton, Hillsborough, etc.

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

#97

Post by gnicholas »

bagels wrote: post #43
tamimio wrote: post #19

Did the carpenter alter the tags?! Afaik they beep sounds around other unpaired iphones, additionally, using apps like AirGuard can alarm you about such ones.

It takes 3 minutes to remove the speaker. There are great tutorials on youtube. I've only purchased airtags for use as theft recovery, and if they beep it defeats the purpose.

Don’t iPhones pop up notifications if there’s an AirTag that doesn’t belong to you following you around?

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

#98

Post by mattm »

LeoPanthera wrote: post #79
kstrauser wrote: post #41

"But AirTags aren't for finding stolen things!", someone asserts every time someone mentions wanting to use AirTags for finding stolen things.

And q-tips aren't for cleaning ears, but what you gonna do.

What are they used for?

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

#99

Post by vundercind »

dmitrygr wrote: post #57
rdtsc wrote: 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…

"OK, I have a gun and I'll go get my stuff myself" is not illegal to say and 100% gets police to show up. Source: tried it more than once

The single case of theft I personally know about ever being acted on by the police, was when a business owner spotted the van that’d been present at burglaries of his business and several others (several of them had footage of the van, the thieves, and legible shots of the license plate—cops didn’t care), called the police to report it, and, when they still acted reluctant to do anything, said “you better come down here or I’ll confront them myself”.

I assume what got them to show up was that they didn’t want the bad press if the dude got shot.

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

#100

Post by axus »

brookst wrote: post #14
bhouston wrote: post #3

A good Hollywood caper story would end with this being ultimately engineered by the tool vendors themselves in order to stimulate more demand for their goods.

That would be a good Hollywood ending. Sadly the world has become so credulous that people probably believe nutty conspiracy theories like that today. When two seconds of thought would make anyone realize that the conspiracy story is insane: professionals working at a company literally paying for criminal acts targeting their own customers, in support of a sales increase they could never get credit for, and which wou…

It's really amazing when it actually happens though: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENl3eh1o-SM

https://asia.nikkei.com/Opinion/Japan-s-Bigmotor-scandal-is-...

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