Should I file a police report?

[Anonymous 1]

Last week, my son left his airpods on his desk to go to the bathroom. When he came back from the bathroom, they were gone. He tried to locate them on FindMy but the little refresh icon just kept swirling. This was in his 5th period class, so a good two hours before school let out.

When he got home a few hours later, he told me what happened. I immediately went to the FindMy app on my phone and it showed his airpods were last found right after school let out at a house across the street from his school. The exact location that it pins to is not always accurate but it's usually pretty close. It looked like it was right outside of the back of the house, just outside of the fence. It last updated at 4:15 pm and wouldn't update any more after that.

We went to the house and rang the doorbell. The guy who opened the door did not speak much English and he seemed like he was annoyed that I was even there. He ended up saying that he doesn't have any kids and slammed the door in my face. I ended up driving all over the neighborhood to see if they would connect and play a sound but nothing happened. I called the police non emergency line who said they would send someone out to take a statement. We waited around for two more hours until I had to leave to go to an appointment. The police car never showed up. However, I was able to speak to one of the neighbors who confirmed that the guy doesn't have any kids, so he would have had no way to get his hands on the airpods at school. The cops did call me later to say they were at the location but I wasn't able to answer the phone or leave to go there so I decided I could go into the station to file a report if I needed to.

The neighborhoods zoned to the school are all in a very small radius, about a two mile radius from the school. But that doesn't mean that the kid who goes to that school even still lives in the area (pretty common here for people to move but not tell the school and keep sending their kid there).

I thought about making a police report and then writing a letter to everyone in the neighborhood where the airpods last pinged and asking them to check and compare the serial number with all of the airpods in their house...that they could return them to the police or to me and that I would not ask any questions. But I would have to go through the appraisal district, house by house, street by street, to compile my own list of names and addresses to send this letter to. I'm just so tired and overworked already, IDK if that is worth it.

My son is bummed out but he knows he shouldn't have left his airpods on the desk. $250 for airpods is nothing to sneeze at but i just don't know if it's worth it. At the same time, it pisses me off that we work so hard to provide for our kids, who in turn work super hard at school, only to have some asshole kid steal the only Christmas present my son asked for in the 3 minutes it took him to go to the restroom.

What would you do?

[Traci_Momof2]

I'm really sorry that happened to him. That really sucks.

I have $20 wireless earbuds from Target. My answer to "what would you do" will be no help.

[Baconqueen13]

Did you check with the school at all? You already admitted that you KNOW that the location is not always accurate and certain equipment in schools can interfere with the accuracy of location technology..... Frankly I think the police report is pointless. I would check with the school and specifically the teacher of the class he was in. If they can't be located AFTER speaking with the teacher and school then chalk it up to a VERY expensive Lesson learned. As you said, "Your son knew better than to leave them on his desk". You're only assuming they were stolen. for all you know the teacher picked them up and placed them in the staff desk or a classmate saw them and turned them into the teacher. Frankly he shouldn't have been using them or had them out during the middle of class anyway.

[Anonymous 2]

Why wouldn't the teacher have questioned the students in the classroom before dismissing?

[Anonymous 1]

Did you check with the school at all? You already admitted that you KNOW that the location is not always accurate and certain equipment in schools can interfere with the accuracy of location technology..... Frankly I think the police report is pointless. I would check with the school and specifically the teacher of the class he was in. If they can't be located AFTER speaking with the teacher and school then chalk it up to a VERY expensive Lesson learned. As you said, "Your son knew better than to leave them on his desk". You're only assuming they were stolen. for all you know the teacher picked them up and placed them in the staff desk or a classmate saw them and turned them into the teacher. Frankly he shouldn't have been using them or had them out during the middle of class anyway.

Yes, he told the teacher and asked for her help. He also filed a report with the school. The school and the teacher said there is nothing they can do. He was using them with permission as they are required to use headphones and a "device" to turn all of their work in.

[Anonymous 1]

Why wouldn't the teacher have questioned the students in the classroom before dismissing?

He said the teacher simply asked everyone to look around. They don't really help with this type of thing.

[Olioxenfree]

It sucks and of course it was wrong for whoever took them to have done so, even if they were left out, but there’s not much you can do. The police aren’t going to start searching houses over AirPods. Unless the classroom has cameras, you’re pretty much out of luck. I would just use it as a lesson that you can’t assume others will do the right thing, don’t leave anything of value unattended in a common space.

[Olioxenfree]

Why wouldn't the teacher have questioned the students in the classroom before dismissing?

He said the teacher simply asked everyone to look around. They don't really help with this type of thing.

Teachers are typically not allowed to search students belongings, so there was likely not much else they could do.

[RIZZY]

I once had a work laptop stolen from my car. When I filed the police report, they took down the serial numbers. About a year later, they recovered the laptop during a raid for something else. They traced the serial number back to my police report which helped them nail down a timeline and get a conviction. Apparently, it was linked to a major organized crime ring. The investigators actually said that there were 2 similar police reports of cars being broken into that they would not have been able to nail down this timeline without so it was super helpful.

I definitely wouldn't send the letter, though. It sounds like a lot of work. And, I feel like it would be easy for them to identify that it was your son and then he could end up getting bullied about it.

But definitely make that paper trail with the police. You never know. It costs no one anything.

[Anonymous 1]

Why wouldn't the teacher have questioned the students in the classroom before dismissing?

He said the teacher simply asked everyone to look around. They don't really help with this type of thing.

Teachers are typically not allowed to search students belongings, so there was likely not much else they could do.

Correct. They also don't have time or authority to question students in class about it.