North Vancouver, B.C. –
Half a dozen bicycles have been stolen from the storage locker of his North Vancouver townhouse complicated this yr, so Travis – who requested CTV News not to use his final identify – wasn’t shocked when his spouse’s bike disappeared in August.
The couple changed it two weeks in the past, however they knew they’d to take additional precautions. So they purchased an Apple Airtag, a small GPS-like tracker that works by connecting to close by internet-enabled Apple units, and hid it on the bike.
This previous Saturday, a neighbour alerted them that the brand new $3,000 bike had simply been stolen from the storage locker, together with a number of others.
“The first thing that we did now that we had the ability to track her bike is we got on our phones and we were able to pinpoint where the trackable device was, where the Airtag was,” mentioned Travis.
They had been shocked to see it was solely three blocks away from the place they had been having lunch in decrease Lonsdale. After strolling the world for 45 minutes, they had been ready to monitor the Airtag’s sign to an underground parkade.
“The way the Airtags work is once you get in a 50 metre radius of them, your phone can actually connect to it and it will give you a very precise location,” mentioned Travis. “So, at that point, we knew we were very, very close to it. We had some suspicions about who might have been in possession of it in the parking garage, but not wanting to contact or make accusations, we just waited for North Vancouver RCMP.”
Media relations officer Const. Mansoor Sahak mentioned North Vancouver RCMP officers arrived whereas the suspects had been nonetheless within the parkade.
“The police encountered two males near a vehicle, suspicious looking males, and they engaged in conversation,” said Sahak. “Once the victim saw the vehicle, he noted there was bicycles inside the vehicle and pointed out that one of the bicycles was his, which formed our grounds to arrest the two suspects.”
The two males of no fastened tackle have prolonged felony information. Sahak says Travis was sensible to place the Airtag on the bike, and to not personally confront the suspects when he found they’d the bike.
“We definitely don’t want people taking matters into their own hands and being vigilantes,” Sahak mentioned. “Everything the man did was correct. He made sure his property was protected, he used a device properly, and waited for police when he did go to the parkade.”
Travis mentioned he acknowledged different bikes within the suspect car that belonged to neighbours in his townhouse complicated. They’ve all been recovered thanks to the Airtag, which can be getting used ceaselessly to monitor misplaced baggage.
“I had my reservations about how well this would work, but I had read a number of stories similar to this one online that said it gives you a fighting chance of recovering your property,” Travis mentioned. “And for the $30 to $40 it costs us to put these on the bikes, we figured that was at least worth it given the climate we have with bike theft in our area right now.”
His spouse remains to be ready to get her bike again from RCMP. But when it’s returned, he’ll be certain the tracker remains to be on it.