(KRON) — A KRON4 News producer experienced first-hand what it’s like to have your car stolen in the East Bay and navigate Oakland’s troubled 911 emergency dispatch system .
The producer, who has only lived in the San Francisco Bay Area for three months and resides in Oakland, made a trip to Costco in Hayward on Wednesday at noon. When she walked out of the store, her 2017 black Kia Optima was gone. A security guard approached her and said men wearing ski masks drove off in the Kia.
Keenly aware that Kias are targeted , the producer had already planted an Apple AirTag tracker inside.
She immediately filed a police report with the Hayward Police Department and her insurance company issued a rental car. The producer used the “Find My” Apple app, and received a ping showing the AirTag tracker was on the 1400 block of 61st Avenue in Oakland.
The producer said she called the Oakland Police Department’s non-emergency number and 911 several times throughout Wednesday afternoon to alert police about her stolen car’s suspected whereabouts based on the “Find My” app. “I called the non-emergency line and no one answered. I kept getting hung up on. It would hold for 20 minutes, then drop,” she said.