New York City tells car owners to use AirTags to stop theft, will hand out 500 freebies

As New York City battles with growing numbers of car thefts, officials are turning to Apple’s AirTag item tracker and drones as potential solutions. In fact, city officials and NYPD officers will be dolling out 500 AirTags to citizens to help discourage and counteract carjackings in the city…

New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced the AirTag program at a press conference this weekend, calling it a “really amazing piece of ingenuity.” The 500 AirTags that will be handed out to New York City citizens were donated by the nonprofit organization Association for Better New York.

For context, car thefts in New York City have increased 13% so far this year compared to the same time period in 2022. City officials hope that more citizens putting AirTags discreetly in their cars will help deter thieves, as an AirTag would make that car easily trackable by its owner.

New York City officials will concentrate most of the AirTag donations to the…