Cops don't like anything vulnerable to theft,
I'd be more sympathetic to the cops if many of them actually bothered to do their jobs. Perhaps in NYC and larger cities they might make a half-hearted effort to track these things, but in the suburban areas where myself and friends live, most police departments will not give you the time of day if you report a stolen iDevice.
2010 was a pretty bad year for me for thefts: my MacBook Pro, dSLR camera and iPhone were all stolen, and a friend of mine has her iPhone stolen as well. All told we were out nearly $10,000 that year. Three separate instances, three separate mid-sized cities, three separate police departments were involved. In all cases, we had plenty of tracking information: serial numbers, Find My iPhone location data for the phones, even surveillance video for the MBP and camera. And even presented with this information, the cops did squat. Statements were taken for the more expensive items, but they even viewed reporting the iPhone thefts on paper as a waste of their time. I came away from the whole experience learning that if you ever find anything of yours stolen, or damaged, or vandalized, you're just SOL.
There is absolutely no use in calling the police. They'd rather not have to deal with the theft at all, because it means having to record a crime statistic that makes them look bad. Make no mistake: the law enforcement folks in New York aren't concerned about this being a public safety issue, so much as it makes them look bad because their crime statistics have gone up. So, hide/lock/keep your stuff better, and take out an insurance policy. That's the best you can do.
The only reason I can think of for DA's being "angry" at phone manufacturers for "not doing enough," is that they want a psychological deterrent, not one that actually permits them to do something effective if they take the effort. Unfortunately, unless we mandate somehow embedding the serial number in every molecule or every phone built, that's just not going to happen. Thieves WILL find a way.
I welcome the effort Apple is taking... but I'm not optimistic as it to it doing a whole lot, unless police departments are more willing to use the data to recover stolen items.
) are petty, they have bigger fish to fry. For device makers to not get on board with a concerted anti-theft solution is irresponsible, and apple stepping up is good news. The point is to deter in the first place. If the right anti-theft solution comes along, there could come a day when we can leave our home or office knowing that all our electronics can be tracked and disabled without fail.
