- According to the Wall Street Journal, some people are hiding airtags in election posters to thwart theft.
- The tracking devices aid in the recovery of the signs and the prosecution of those who steal them.
- Those indicted included political opponents, according to the WSJ.
It’s the age-old political tale: You put up a campaign poster in your yard and thieves come and steal it.
But according to The Wall Street Journal, people fed up with the predatory behavior in their front yards are embracing modern solutions.
Apple’s location-tracking device, AirTag, can help owners find their signs and, in some cases, help track down the person who stole them.
The practice has already led to prosecutions: In one example cited by the outlet, Florida politician John Dittemore decided to hide a coin-sized gadget in one of his posters after noticing a rash of thefts in May.
When the signs were stolen in the middle of the night, a Brevard County Commission candidate tracked the AirTag signal to a pickup truck eight miles away. Police questioned two young men, who were charged with criminal damage to property and theft of nine signs.
Including the stolen poster stand, the total value of the stolen items exceeds $1,100, according to the WSJ.
In other cases cited, stolen signs ended up not in the hands of teenagers, but in the homes of political opponents.
According to The Wall Street Journal, after Chris Torre was the victim of a poster snatching, an air tag led him to the home of Renee Rountree, who was running for a seat on the Isle of Wight County Commission in Virginia.
Her stepson was charged with a misdemeanor for theft, while Rowntree was charged with a misdemeanor for receiving stolen property. At her December court hearing, she said she planned to return the sign. Rowntree was subsequently ordered to perform 250 hours of community service.
“I would like to believe that this will have a significant deterrent effect,” the judge in the case said in court records cited by the Journal.
The judge’s reference to Rowntree highlights another big attraction of AirTags: If thieves suspect that posters may be rigged, they may be less inclined to steal them.
“It’s a lot like a cop marking his location on a street,” Vinnie Panico, a New Jersey deputy mayor who tracked the lost poster to the home of a local commissioner, told the outlet. “If it slows people down, it just slows people down.”
Still, AirTag isn’t the end all be all: Lawn posters are still at risk of being vandalized, and vandals have been known to run over signs they don’t like with their cars.
But the technology’s capabilities go beyond yard signs: These devices can also track lost wallets and airline baggage (even when the airlines themselves can’t find it) and allow parents to check in on their children.
But there has also been growing criticism of the $29 location trackers, with concerns they could become an inexpensive tool for stalkers and abusers. A lawsuit against Apple was filed in 2022, and a judge in March denied a motion to dismiss the case.
