right, I'm actually wondering if one could build an esp32 device that did this itself (i.e. without the need of a flipper zero). Basically something in a similar form factor of an actual air tag.
the anti-stalking features make airtags less useful for anti-theft (or theft discovery), as any aware thief can just disable the tag due to the anti-stalking feature (apple does note that its not designed for anti-theft purposes). But if one can defeat the anti-stalking feature, it makes it much more practical for this.
Personally, I wish Apple allowed one to permanently put their air-tag into law enforcement mode, which would prevent you personally from tracking it (and remove it from stalking alerts), but would provide legally recognized law enforcement the ability to request the tracking record (i.e. same process that they might use for requesting cell phone location data).
In my experience, their efforts are directly correlated with the tools and information at their disposal. Report stolen property? They’ll take a report. Report the location of stolen property? Much more likely to investigate. It shouldn’t surprise anyone that they are loath to expend a limited amount of resources on anything other than triaged harm reduction. If they can recover stolen property while securing a successful prosecution of the thieves, without exerting a ton of time and effort, they probably will. That said, I have experienced needlessly unhelpful police encounters, so YMMV with pragmatism.
For anything that may be insured, they likely just want to get you your paperwork, so you can file a claim. Why bother getting something you can replace? For other things, they may care if there is an evidence trail to follow.
In the case that one is using an airtag for ant-theft purposes and they do not want to alert the thief of the existence of the airtag while maintaining the intention of the alerts (anti-stalking).
ex. You notice your bike is stolen. immediately turn on law enforcement mode. The anti-stalking notifications are disabled but the owner can no longer track the airtag. However, after alerting the police, they could access the location of the device and investigate or recover the bike.
the anti-stalking features make airtags less useful for anti-theft (or theft discovery), as any aware thief can just disable the tag due to the anti-stalking feature (apple does note that its not designed for anti-theft purposes). But if one can defeat the anti-stalking feature, it makes it much more practical for this.
Personally, I wish Apple allowed one to permanently put their air-tag into law enforcement mode, which would prevent you personally from tracking it (and remove it from stalking alerts), but would provide legally recognized law enforcement the ability to request the tracking record (i.e. same process that they might use for requesting cell phone location data).