A UK police force says that people should consider putting an AirTag into their car just in case it gets stolen. The suggestion comes after the force was able to successfully locate a vehicle within 40 minutes of it being taken from its owner.
Sheffield North West NPT tweeted to say that a car theft was reported after masked men entered a property to locate its keys. They stole the car after finding them, but less than an hour later it was picked back up by police.
Earlier this morning we were called to reports that a masked man had entered a property on Edmund Road and stolen a set of car from the property, before stealing the car and driving away. The savvy owner had placed an Apple AirTag in within the car at an earlier date.⬇️October 18, 2022
The police force goes on to say that "this incident shows that placing trackers in vehicles does work in helping us locate them if they are unfortunately stolen." In a follow-up tweet, they went further, saying that they'd "encourage all car owners to consider putting a low-cost tracker in their car" as a way of expediting its recovery should it be stolen.
Unfortunately, the tweet also confirms that the people responsible for the theft hadn't been located, although inquiries are ongoing.
We’d encourage all car owners to consider putting a low-cost tracker in their car, to save them from possibly having a much more expensive problem later down the line!Enquiries are ongoing to locate those responsible. pic.twitter.com/ALbsdo7DArOctober 18, 2022
This isn't the first time that an AirTag has been used to locate a vehicle, but it's rare for a police force to actively suggest that using one would help them if a car was stolen.
Unfortunately, while AirTags are still relatively inexpensive, they aren't as cheap as they used to be in the UK. The price of a single AirTag increased by 20% from £29 to £35 earlier this week, caught in the same situation that also saw iPad Air and iPad mini price increases. While still some of the best iPads for many people, their price increases didn't come with any new features and were instead thought to be the result of the strong U.S. dollar.
