9 ms·

My car got broken into in Oakland, California. Multiple pieces of luggage stolen (yes, my fault for leaving it in the car in the first place). Luckily I had an

My car got broken into in Oakland, California. Multiple pieces of luggage stolen (yes, my fault for leaving it in the car in the first place). Luckily I had an AirTag that showed the exact location of the stolen items. I called the police but they said they couldn't do anything. Apparently, even if I had the location the thief would have to invite them in. Regardless, I was put on a waiting list, they finally called me back 3 days later. I promptly left the state a few months later.

gruez 8mo ago
>Apparently, even if I had the location the thief would have to invite them in. I mean, isn't that good? 4th amendment, warrants from a judge, and all that.
- cbolton 8mo ago
  Presumably they could easily get a warrant with that information, if they cared to ask.
  - trillic 8mo ago
    Victim meets with police, signs affidavit, prosecutor goes to judge with affidavit, warrant written specifically for those items only. Should be simple and even digital if we wanted it to be.
    - wildzzz 8mo ago
      An airtag alone will never be enough for a search warrant. They are not accurate enough and don't prove any actual crime was committed (maybe someone found your looted backpack in the trash). If there was security camera footage of the theft or you knew the thief and the cops could verify where they lived, that could likely be enough.
  - jasonfarnon 8mo ago
    I guess the question would be how easy it is to fake this evidence. I don't know this tech. Could I throw my airtags in someone's bag and just take that to the police station and say look here on my phone, that's where my bags are, and then it's a he said/she said? Then the airtags aren't really adding anything to just your word "they took my bag".
insane_dreamer 8mo ago
[flagged]
- SllX 8mo ago
  I don’t deal with Oakland Police specifically but Oakland itself is a sanctuary city.
  - seanmcdirmid 8mo ago
    Local police are never supposed to deal with immigration issues anyways, it isn't in their jurisdiction and they would have to call feds in to deal with anything related to it. Generally, a city is called a sanctuary city if they don't honor hold orders on detainees from customs and immigration, it has nothing to do with police not enforcing immigration rules, which they can't do either way.
  - insane_dreamer 8mo ago
    Right. Plus local police don't have jurisdiction over immigration issues. My comment was more a reflection on how the gov generally is, sadly (and horrifically in Minneapolis etc), much more responsive to undocumented cases than actual crimes.
    - SllX 8mo ago
      Sure, but different agency under a different government (Feds, not City of Oakland). Oakland PD has their own bad reputation to live down to, let’s not commingle them.
      - insane_dreamer 8mo ago
        for sure, I was referring to the fed gov
ahmeneeroe-v2 8mo ago
It's not your fault for leaving your property in your car. Wild to say that.
- renewiltord 8mo ago
  I imagine they see it the way I do: the SF Bay Area has thieves like this because it's part of local native culture. You get the good with the bad. Sort of like going to the elephant graveyard and being eaten by hyena pack. Sure, it's not your fault for walking around graveyard and getting eaten by hyena. But this is where hyena is. I have lost (and sometimes recovered) many items to these hyena. Ultimately, they are not people or anything. They're like hyena. You don't say it is fault of hyena. It is animal and local culture is animal lover. Why stress about it? Like many, GP decided that he leave hyena here and go elsewhere where it is people and not animal.
  - deleted 8mo ago
    [deleted]
  - trollbridge 8mo ago
    But the thieves actually are people, not "wildlife". And there is no reason to tolerate this kind of quality-of-life crime. Nobody is better off for it.
    - renewiltord 8mo ago
      One way or the other, local culture is to do this. Yes, I agree it’s a negative sum choice. But they like it. It’s the same school of thought where a prison abolitionist didn’t report her gang rape: https://www.thenation.com/article/society/why-i-didnt-report-my-rape/ https://www.thenation.com/article/society/why-i-didnt-report... It’s a coastal elite view. As for whether they’re people and not wildlife as you put it, I suspect I’m more right than you are. Some of them have almost been acquitted because after killing people while robbing them it was offered as an explanation that they are too stupid to know that killing was bad. https://sfist.com/2024/09/20/sf-jury-convicts-two-for-2017-murder-of-photographer-on-twin-peaks/ https://sfist.com/2024/09/20/sf-jury-convicts-two-for-2017-m... > Decuir and Mims were convicted last year of armed robbery, but a jury deadlocked on the first-degree murder charge, leading to this second trial… Attorneys also argued that she had a low IQ…
trollbridge 8mo ago
I generally believe it is not a crime victim's fault for being a victim of a crime, and the police services need to stop saying things that perpetrate this mindset.
fortran77 8mo ago
> (yes, my fault for leaving it in the car in the first place). It's not your fault. It's California's fault for tolerating a culture of criminality.
fsckboy 8mo ago
>the thief would have to invite them in it wasn't your mistake calling them, but be thankful you escaped: those police were apparently vampires.
shibapuppie 8mo ago
I'm sure if you were to "take your gun" to where the AirTag is located, the police would care a ton more.

gruez 8mo ago

>Apparently, even if I had the location the thief would have to invite them in. I mean, isn't that good? 4th amendment, warrants from a judge, and all that.

cbolton 8mo ago
Presumably they could easily get a warrant with that information, if they cared to ask.
- trillic 8mo ago
  Victim meets with police, signs affidavit, prosecutor goes to judge with affidavit, warrant written specifically for those items only. Should be simple and even digital if we wanted it to be.
  - wildzzz 8mo ago
    An airtag alone will never be enough for a search warrant. They are not accurate enough and don't prove any actual crime was committed (maybe someone found your looted backpack in the trash). If there was security camera footage of the theft or you knew the thief and the cops could verify where they lived, that could likely be enough.
- jasonfarnon 8mo ago
  I guess the question would be how easy it is to fake this evidence. I don't know this tech. Could I throw my airtags in someone's bag and just take that to the police station and say look here on my phone, that's where my bags are, and then it's a he said/she said? Then the airtags aren't really adding anything to just your word "they took my bag".

insane_dreamer 8mo ago

[flagged]

SllX 8mo ago
I don’t deal with Oakland Police specifically but Oakland itself is a sanctuary city.
- seanmcdirmid 8mo ago
  Local police are never supposed to deal with immigration issues anyways, it isn't in their jurisdiction and they would have to call feds in to deal with anything related to it. Generally, a city is called a sanctuary city if they don't honor hold orders on detainees from customs and immigration, it has nothing to do with police not enforcing immigration rules, which they can't do either way.
- insane_dreamer 8mo ago
  Right. Plus local police don't have jurisdiction over immigration issues. My comment was more a reflection on how the gov generally is, sadly (and horrifically in Minneapolis etc), much more responsive to undocumented cases than actual crimes.
  - SllX 8mo ago
    Sure, but different agency under a different government (Feds, not City of Oakland). Oakland PD has their own bad reputation to live down to, let’s not commingle them.
    - insane_dreamer 8mo ago
      for sure, I was referring to the fed gov

ahmeneeroe-v2 8mo ago

It's not your fault for leaving your property in your car. Wild to say that.

renewiltord 8mo ago
I imagine they see it the way I do: the SF Bay Area has thieves like this because it's part of local native culture. You get the good with the bad. Sort of like going to the elephant graveyard and being eaten by hyena pack. Sure, it's not your fault for walking around graveyard and getting eaten by hyena. But this is where hyena is. I have lost (and sometimes recovered) many items to these hyena. Ultimately, they are not people or anything. They're like hyena. You don't say it is fault of hyena. It is animal and local culture is animal lover. Why stress about it? Like many, GP decided that he leave hyena here and go elsewhere where it is people and not animal.
- deleted 8mo ago
  [deleted]
- trollbridge 8mo ago
  But the thieves actually are people, not "wildlife". And there is no reason to tolerate this kind of quality-of-life crime. Nobody is better off for it.
  - renewiltord 8mo ago
    One way or the other, local culture is to do this. Yes, I agree it’s a negative sum choice. But they like it. It’s the same school of thought where a prison abolitionist didn’t report her gang rape: https://www.thenation.com/article/society/why-i-didnt-report-my-rape/ https://www.thenation.com/article/society/why-i-didnt-report... It’s a coastal elite view. As for whether they’re people and not wildlife as you put it, I suspect I’m more right than you are. Some of them have almost been acquitted because after killing people while robbing them it was offered as an explanation that they are too stupid to know that killing was bad. https://sfist.com/2024/09/20/sf-jury-convicts-two-for-2017-murder-of-photographer-on-twin-peaks/ https://sfist.com/2024/09/20/sf-jury-convicts-two-for-2017-m... > Decuir and Mims were convicted last year of armed robbery, but a jury deadlocked on the first-degree murder charge, leading to this second trial… Attorneys also argued that she had a low IQ…

trollbridge 8mo ago

I generally believe it is not a crime victim's fault for being a victim of a crime, and the police services need to stop saying things that perpetrate this mindset.

fortran77 8mo ago

> (yes, my fault for leaving it in the car in the first place). It's not your fault. It's California's fault for tolerating a culture of criminality.

fsckboy 8mo ago

>the thief would have to invite them in it wasn't your mistake calling them, but be thankful you escaped: those police were apparently vampires.

shibapuppie 8mo ago

I'm sure if you were to "take your gun" to where the AirTag is located, the police would care a ton more.