New York City Handing Out 500 Free AirTags to Discourage Car Thefts
Credit: CTV NewsToggle Dark Mode
Although Apple’s AirTags sometimes find themselves on the wrong side of the law, there are still many more people using them for the legitimate purpose for which they were designed: helping you track down and find your lost stuff — and, sometimes, even your dog.
It seems the New York Police Department (NYPD) is now doing its part to encourage the responsible use of AirTags and cut down on the spiraling problem of car thefts in New York City. In a press conference over the weekend, New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced that the city plans to begin handing out free AirTags to residents to help them track their cars.
Related: You can now get 9% off of AirTags on Amazon
This simple device, this simple AirTag, hidden in a car at a location that a person is not aware of is an excellent tracking device. It’s easy to monitor, the New York City Police Department is going to be putting out a video to explain the use of it. It’s very simple. The charging life lasts a long time, and you can see in real-time where that vehicle is located. New York City Mayor Eric Adams
During the press conference, Mayor Adams held up a packaged AirTag to show his audience the device he was referring to, adding that the Association for a Better New York (ABNY) has picked up the cost of 500 AirTags to be given to residents of the 43 Precinct, which services the southeast section of the Bronx — an area the Mayor says is “really spiking in grand larceny auto,” with over 200 car thefts since January — an increase of 24 percent compared to the same time last year.
For now, the 500 AirTags are available to residents of Castle Hill, Soundview, and Parkchester, who can “call the local precinct to request one,” according to CBS New York. However, the Mayor also hopes that other business and community organizations will step up to make similar donations that will presumably be handed out throughout the city.
We’re going to be partnering with other entities in the city, to also bring about this type of donation from not only our corporate partners but those who would like to play a role in dealing with the grand larceny autos we’re seeing in the city.New York City Mayor Eric Adams
The NYPD subsequently shared a video on Twitter encouraging folks to use AirTags in their vehicles and providing some guidance on where to place them and how the NYPD will use drones and other technology to track down stolen cars.
Since AirTags are designed to be tracked from your personal iPhone, it’s not entirely clear how NYPD officers will use them. During the press conference, NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell acknowledged that the AirTag would work with the user’s phone but also implied that the NYPD would somehow be able to track it once the vehicle owner called 911.
You download the app to your phone. You deploy this AirTag the way you want to deploy it in your car, wherever you feel comfortable with, and when the AirTag starts moving, vis a vis your vehicle, your phone will be alerted. You know someone’s in your car who’s not supposed to be, and/or it’s stolen. You call 911 as fast as you can. You tell the officers involved ‘I have an AirTag, ‘and they will immediately with citywide apprehension apparatus will start putting that tag citywide.NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell
The Problem with the NYPD’s Plan
Throughout the press conference, Mayor Adams praised the AirTag as a “really amazing piece of ingenuity.” While that’s undoubtedly some fantastic marketing for Apple, the Mayor also half-jokingly suggested some uses of the AirTag that Apple wouldn’t likely approve of:
You can use this device so many times. You know, I used to tell my son ‘Make sure you come straight home after school,’ and I find he goes to another borough. Now I can track him (laughs).New York City Mayor Eric Adams
Unfortunately, the real problem with the NYPD’s plan for using AirTags comes from Apple’s anti-stalking features. An AirTag that’s moving around without you only knows that it’s been separated from your iPhone — it has no idea whether it’s tracking a thief or a stalking victim.
Naturally, Apple wants to err on the side of caution, which means that an orphaned AirTag — one that’s away from its paired iPhone — will take steps to make its presence known. This includes notifying any other iPhones traveling with it and, eventually, emitting an audible sound.
Further, car thieves aren’t completely stupid. Many of them already know about AirTags — some have even been using them to help steal cars — and they watch press conferences too. This means they’ll likely be even more on the lookout now that the NYPD is handing out free AirTags. It’s not hard to search a vehicle for a hidden AirTag, and many crooks are already doing this. An auto-theft case in Toronto last year had a happy ending only because the owner of a stolen vehicle had the foresight to plant three AirTags inside his car, and the thieves stopped looking after they found the first one.
Nevertheless, every little bit helps. Not all thieves will think to check for AirTags or be notified of their existence, as we saw in this case of Texas truck theft. Apple’s anti-stalking features sometimes take several hours to kick in, even if a person is carrying an iPhone, as they tend to look for significant location changes. This can give the police ample time to track down a stolen car, and even if the AirTag is later found and destroyed, they’ll still have a report on its last-known location.
