D.C. police suggest using AirTags to thwart thefts of $1000 jackets

AppleInsider

An uptick in expensive Canada Goose jacket thefts has led police officers to suggest college students use AirTags to track the jackets -- just in case.

Apple AirTag

In November,

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser launched a program offering AirTags to residents in car theft-prone neighborhoods, using Apple's Find My technology to help locate stolen vehicles.

Now, D.C. police are suggesting college students do the same -- for their Canada Goose jackets.

Canada Goose jackets, which start at around $500 and can cost upwards of $2000, have become a target for thieves. Some are even going as far as holding up wearers at gunpoint.

When asked what can be done to protect the jackets, the D.C. police department had a simple response.

"AirTags," said Commander Sylvan Altieri told Fox5. "I've seen people use them on tool kits, suitcases, I think that's probably the best thing you can do as far as if it gets taken, because it's a nice way to track it."

While this is a sound idea, it's always important to remember not to confront thieves and try to obtain stolen goods yourself. Instead, AirTag owners are encouraged to provide AirTag information to local law enforcement in the event of theft.

Read on AppleInsider

mrstep

The DC police can barely solve a murder, the odds of an AirTag helping recover a pampered kid's $2000 jacket is zero.

Nikon8

mrstep said:

The DC police can barely solve a murder, the odds of an AirTag helping recover a pampered kid's $2000 jacket is zero.

I think it is more a deterrent.  hoping to reduce the amount of theft.  it is never zero but if it reduces even 10%, it is a good start.  

jimh2

Thieves generally are not going to check for AirTags before robbing someone and most likely will not even know about the advice. By telling everyone about it they will know to look for one after stealing the jacket.

A better solution is not to have a $500-$2000 jacket at college in the DC or any crime ridden city. I'll also speculate that most could not afford to replace it if stolen.

inkling

You'd think college students whose parents could afford to buy them a $1000 jacket would have the sense to AirTag their valuables without being told. Then again, maybe not. I've never noticed any correlation between parental wealth and the intelligence of their offspring. 

Better advice would be: "If you don't want to be robbed, don't dress rich."

darkvader

$1000 for a jacket?

Gross.

ihatescreennames

darkvader said:

$1000 for a jacket?

Gross.

Yeah. Funny, a friend of mine went to Iceland 6 or 8 years ago and didn’t pack warm enough clothing. While there and feeling cold he figured he would buy a Canada Goose jacket, it cost around $800. He came back absolutely gushing about how it was the best winter jacket he had ever had. The next year he said, “Hey, remember how much I loved that Canada Goose jacket? I think it was only because I hadn’t brought a winter jacket of my own with me and finally having a warm jacket in Iceland fooled me into thinking it was money well spent. Turns out my regular winter jacket I have at home, that cost me less than $100, is just as warm, if not a little warmer.” 

As far as the police advertising that people should put AirTags in their jackets, it seems that many people will probably find their AirTag in a trash can not too far from where their jacket was stolen.

alandail

jimh2 said:

Thieves generally are not going to check for AirTags before robbing someone and most likely will not even know about the advice. By telling everyone about it they will know to look for one after stealing the jacket.

A better solution is not to have a $500-$2000 jacket at college in the DC or any crime ridden city. I'll also speculate that most could not afford to replace it if stolen.

Even if they don't know, their phone will tell them they have an AirTag being tracked near them.

sunman42

A fool and his obscenely overpriced jacket are soon parted. Wasn’t it Ben Franklin who pointed that out?

dewme

Not being a fashion victim I had never heard of Canada Goose jackets. When I saw the first paragraph of this story I was immediately delighted - finally!, someone’s figured out how to deal with those pesky pests that carpet manicured lawns everywhere, especially in well maintained office parks and golf courses, with their cat turd sized droppings. By the thousands. And thousands. 

Then there’s the aggressive ones that attack employees trying to get into their workplace when the geese create nests in shrubbery along the walking paths between the employee parking and building entrances. Between the turd tsunami and terrorized employees, the Canada Goose invasion is the bane of office parks and golf courses everywhere, more so when the lawns are maintained trimmed short and there are water features nearby. 

You’d think the Canada Goose herds would eat the wild grasses in the wide open spaces of their homeland, but no, they migrate south to America and become a massive nuisance. They love nothing more than tightly cropped office park grass. Apple was genius to go with natural landscaping at Apple Park. Total Canada Goose turn-off. 

The thought of opportunistically reducing the Canada Goose invasion by making them into jackets that are worthy of $1000 price tags sounded too good to be true. Big letdown. 

The irony of the Canada Goose jackets is that some of them have real fur trim, supposedly from coyotes. My last employer used fake coyotes positioned around the campus to deter the goose invasion. The geese quickly figured out that the fake coyotes weren’t real. Turdmageddon returned. Sidewalks, windows, and cars recoated with fresh layers of goose poo. 

The only thing that helped to some degree was bringing in a professional goose annoyance service (not kidding) that uses Border Collies that try to herd the geese, which they apparently don’t like. The geese eventually learned to recognize the vehicle that the Border Collie goose annoyer service used and would vacate the premises as soon as the vehicle entered the parking lot. Bored Border Collies. Once the vehicle left, the geese returned. After several months of playing the dog vs. goose game the intrepid pests would usually relocate to an adjacent business’ grounds. 

Turning them into jackets would be much much easier besides being truer to the brand label. Save the AirTags for the dogs. 

humbug1873

Police are getting lazier every day. Why don't they fight crime, patrol the streets (on foot ... not in their cars) ..

"Yeah hey listen, we are lazy so could you do our job for us and monitor everything for us, tell us when you got it back again and let us know, we need some successes for our crime statistic."

Useless

beowulfschmidt

inkling said:

You'd think college students whose parents could afford to buy them a $1000 jacket would have the sense to AirTag their valuables without being told. Then again, maybe not. I've never noticed any correlation between parental wealth and the intelligence of their offspring. 

Better advice would be: "If you don't want to be robbed, don't dress rich."

Nothing like a little victim blaming to go with my coffee in the morning...

AppleZulu

alandail said:

jimh2 said:

Thieves generally are not going to check for AirTags before robbing someone and most likely will not even know about the advice. By telling everyone about it they will know to look for one after stealing the jacket.

A better solution is not to have a $500-$2000 jacket at college in the DC or any crime ridden city. I'll also speculate that most could not afford to replace it if stolen.

Even if they don't know, their phone will tell them they have an AirTag being tracked near them.

That’s not how it works. The point here is to be able to track it immediately after it’s been stolen. The warning you’re referring to doesn’t kick in for a while. 

humbug1873 said:

Police are getting lazier every day. Why don't they fight crime, patrol the streets (on foot ... not in their cars) ..

"Yeah hey listen, we are lazy so could you do our job for us and monitor everything for us, tell us when you got it back again and let us know, we need some successes for our crime statistic."

Useless

So how do you figure a cop is going to find a stolen jacket if he doesn’t happen to be right there to give chase as soon as it’s stolen? “Lazy” would be to keep mum about the possibility of attaching a tracker so they wouldn’t have to find the jacket and confront the thief. As was noted in the article, you’re supposed to call the cops with the tracking info, not go after the thief yourself.