"A high-ranking Los Angeles Police Department official is under internal investigation after an LAPD officer with whom he was romantically involved accused him of using at least one Apple AirTag to track her movements, sources say.
The official, Assistant Chief Al Labrada, had his city phone confiscated shortly after the woman filed a police report in Ontario within the past week, according to the sources, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the ongoing probe publicly.
The woman alleged that she discovered an AirTag — a small tracking device that can be attached to personal items — in some of her possessions."
Sounds like someone who either didn’t know the AirTag would announce its presence or didn’t care. The feature allowing iPhone users to see that an AirTag is traveling with them came out in December 2022 so the other cases where they were used mentioned in the article could have been between the 2021 release and 2022 update. If the drivers of those vehicles were searched, they could have also seen whether they used iPhones and only planted the devices if no iPhone was present.
Since the AirTags were being used to track people without authorization, police tech would hopefully not be an option if there’s paperwork involved. Somebody would have to sign out the equipment and that could raise eyebrows if there’s no accompanying documentation to show that it’s being used in accordance with the applicable laws and policies.