5 ms·

AirTags and police are worthless. I had an AT on AirPods that dropped in my apt garage. I could see them move into a secured area that Google leased. Called the

AirTags and police are worthless. I had an AT on AirPods that dropped in my apt garage. I could see them move into a secured area that Google leased. Called the cops’ non-emergency number. “Sorry, we have a 2 day backlog” Then, I watched them leave the area, go on a highway, and arrive at a house in a residential area. The police there refused to do anything until the other police did something. It doesn’t matter if you know where your property is, people are allowed to steal it and get away with it.

Far_Pig 4y ago
What country was this in?
kranke155 4y ago
Depends on where you are. In the UK I called the police in Bristol over a “stolen” iPhone. I said I had the Find my IPhone active. They asked me for the login and they were going to use Find to get to the phone. I got there first and it turns out it was just lost. But I was surprised that they would use it.
- devmunchies 4y ago
  You can share your location with other icloud accounts. There is no reason to share login credentials, especially with the govt.
  - kranke155 4y ago
    Had no idea. will keep that in mind.
- 7ewis 4y ago
  Sounds a little invasive asking for the login? If that's genuinely what they do, would be nice if Apple implemented a police version of 'Find my Friends' to let you give them permission to track the device rather than the password.
  - danpalmer 4y ago
    I'd definitely attribute this to ignorance rather than malice. I doubt the police (the person, not the organisation) knows or cares what else can be done with the password, to them it's just the hoop they need to jump through to see what they need to see for the task at hand. I wouldn't imagine they would have the organisational capability to misuse those passwords, other than the individual realising they could look through iCloud photos or something. It's still bad, and Apple should implement a sharing or law enforcement mode for this case, but I doubt it's malicious at the state level.
smcl 4y ago
The job of the police is at best to react late to a crime, shrug and say they can't do anything. At worst, well there's some footage about to be released of Tyre Nichols being beaten to death by multiple police officers ...
nikanj 4y ago
The police are worthless when it comes to all petty crime.
- bushbaba 4y ago
  Mostly in California given we decriminalized petty theft. Even if the cops catch the guy they cannot enter the house or do much else
- xyzzyz 4y ago
  It is indeed the case in US. This is because we have way fewer cops than we should have relative to the amount of crime. We have 30-50% fewer cops per capita than France or Germany, but a big multiple of their crime rate. We have about as many cops per capita in Poland, and the crime rate in Poland is so low compared to US that when I grew up there, they would very much investigate and prosecute a lot of petty crime.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
xyzzyz 4y ago
United States is highly underpoliced. Look at this: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_and_dependencies_by_number_of_police_officers https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_and_depend... We have much fewer officers per capita than France or Germany, but these countries have much less crime than we do. Considering how much crime we have, we should have way more police than other countries, but it’s not the reality.
- eli 4y ago
  What's the relationship between crime rates and number of officers?
  - xyzzyz 4y ago
    It is generally expected, and in fact almost always the case, that if you hire people to deal with a specific problem, hiring more of them will result in less of this problem, and conversely, hiring fewer will result in having more of that problem. At some point, of course, one would expect to see diminishing returns. However, it is beyond clear by looking at other similar countries, our past, recent evidence in police budget reductions etc., that we are nowhere near close to that.
    - anigbrowl 4y ago
      Actually it appears that the more police you have the more misdemeanor arrests result, but this does not impact the clearance rate for violent felonies. In other words you get more hall monitors but not necessarily more detectives. https://academic.oup.com/bjc/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/bjc/azac005/6568129?redirectedFrom=fulltext&login=false https://academic.oup.com/bjc/advance-article-abstract/doi/10... recent evidence in police budget reductions Only about 8% of US cities have reallocated police founding elsewhere; most have increased it since 2020, and in nearly half of jurisdictions it has risen by >10%. https://abcnews.go.com/US/defunding-claims-police-funding-increased-us-cities/story?id=91511971 https://abcnews.go.com/US/defunding-claims-police-funding-in... The US also spends more than most other developed countries as a % of GDP, though less than Russia and Costa Rica: https://www.workandmoney.com/s/police-spending-by-country-984701cbc1c340e9 https://www.workandmoney.com/s/police-spending-by-country-98...

Far_Pig 4y ago

What country was this in?

kranke155 4y ago

Depends on where you are. In the UK I called the police in Bristol over a “stolen” iPhone. I said I had the Find my IPhone active. They asked me for the login and they were going to use Find to get to the phone. I got there first and it turns out it was just lost. But I was surprised that they would use it.

devmunchies 4y ago
You can share your location with other icloud accounts. There is no reason to share login credentials, especially with the govt.
- kranke155 4y ago
  Had no idea. will keep that in mind.
7ewis 4y ago
Sounds a little invasive asking for the login? If that's genuinely what they do, would be nice if Apple implemented a police version of 'Find my Friends' to let you give them permission to track the device rather than the password.
- danpalmer 4y ago
  I'd definitely attribute this to ignorance rather than malice. I doubt the police (the person, not the organisation) knows or cares what else can be done with the password, to them it's just the hoop they need to jump through to see what they need to see for the task at hand. I wouldn't imagine they would have the organisational capability to misuse those passwords, other than the individual realising they could look through iCloud photos or something. It's still bad, and Apple should implement a sharing or law enforcement mode for this case, but I doubt it's malicious at the state level.

smcl 4y ago

The job of the police is at best to react late to a crime, shrug and say they can't do anything. At worst, well there's some footage about to be released of Tyre Nichols being beaten to death by multiple police officers ...

nikanj 4y ago

The police are worthless when it comes to all petty crime.

bushbaba 4y ago
Mostly in California given we decriminalized petty theft. Even if the cops catch the guy they cannot enter the house or do much else
xyzzyz 4y ago
It is indeed the case in US. This is because we have way fewer cops than we should have relative to the amount of crime. We have 30-50% fewer cops per capita than France or Germany, but a big multiple of their crime rate. We have about as many cops per capita in Poland, and the crime rate in Poland is so low compared to US that when I grew up there, they would very much investigate and prosecute a lot of petty crime.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]

xyzzyz 4y ago

United States is highly underpoliced. Look at this: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_and_dependencies_by_number_of_police_officers https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_and_depend... We have much fewer officers per capita than France or Germany, but these countries have much less crime than we do. Considering how much crime we have, we should have way more police than other countries, but it’s not the reality.

eli 4y ago
What's the relationship between crime rates and number of officers?
- xyzzyz 4y ago
  It is generally expected, and in fact almost always the case, that if you hire people to deal with a specific problem, hiring more of them will result in less of this problem, and conversely, hiring fewer will result in having more of that problem. At some point, of course, one would expect to see diminishing returns. However, it is beyond clear by looking at other similar countries, our past, recent evidence in police budget reductions etc., that we are nowhere near close to that.
  - anigbrowl 4y ago
    Actually it appears that the more police you have the more misdemeanor arrests result, but this does not impact the clearance rate for violent felonies. In other words you get more hall monitors but not necessarily more detectives. https://academic.oup.com/bjc/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/bjc/azac005/6568129?redirectedFrom=fulltext&login=false https://academic.oup.com/bjc/advance-article-abstract/doi/10... recent evidence in police budget reductions Only about 8% of US cities have reallocated police founding elsewhere; most have increased it since 2020, and in nearly half of jurisdictions it has risen by >10%. https://abcnews.go.com/US/defunding-claims-police-funding-increased-us-cities/story?id=91511971 https://abcnews.go.com/US/defunding-claims-police-funding-in... The US also spends more than most other developed countries as a % of GDP, though less than Russia and Costa Rica: https://www.workandmoney.com/s/police-spending-by-country-984701cbc1c340e9 https://www.workandmoney.com/s/police-spending-by-country-98...