"Secreted Technology"---?? Cough Syrup With GPS Tracker Helps Cops Nab Pharmacy Burglars

The first sentence is what peaked my interest. Secrete??? Secrete the technology??? What does this mean, if anything???

But I'm sure the police department meant put the "bug" (circuit board, battery) in the box, right? Not secrete the technology, like in a liquid form.

“The technology allows us to secrete the system in a variety of items and is only limited by our imagination,” the Police Department said in a statement. “We will continue using this technology as we want every criminal who is considering stealing something in our city to wonder if a GPS device is hidden inside.”

Just the basic hide the tracker with the permission of the owner of the pharmacy. That isn't what drew my interest to the story.

The suspects had no idea that the bottle of cough syrup perched on a shelf at a Tustin pharmacy contained something more than cough relief.

It wasn’t until the nondescript package was removed from the small Newport Avenue business by burglars that its secret ingredients went to work.

www.latimes.com...

a reply to: seasonal

Secrete.

As in "We secreted the tracker inside the cough mixture container".

I assume this was some sort of paper thin device, probably affixed to the inside of the cap of the container to conceal its presence. A damned fine deployment strategy for this particular technology, if you ask me. You could do the same to bottled beer, boxes of pills, anything really. As theft prevention/detection methods go, you cannot really fault it!

a reply to: seasonal

I dont have a problem with this as long as the pharmacy knows they are there. it was talked about in PA for a while after a rash of robberies a few years ago.....as far as I know it didnt get any traction though.

a reply to: TrueBrit

Do you think that is was a solid and not a liquid?

If it is a solid, the person who sculpted the press release must have trouble describing what color their car is.

a reply to: annoyedpharmacist

I was more interested in the "secrete tech."

The tracking of people that steal things will be left up to the courts.

I guess next time I get my bottle of cough medicine I will make sure to put it on a new bottle and dump the one that it came in it.

a reply to: seasonal

It is amazing tech. It could be hid under the label on the bottle, or under the bottle cap. If under the cap and not noticed, it could be damaged if it comes in contact with the syrup after breaking the seal.....

a reply to: seasonal

I think it was almost certainly a solid.

The fact that the trackers have been used in other things, including cars and other hard goods, suggests that this is the case. They are however, in all probability, very small in physical size.

a reply to: annoyedpharmacist

There is no reason that the technology could not be waterproofed, especially if it is a simple little device with no moving parts. A little silicon housing would isolate it from liquid damage.

originally posted by: seasonal
The first sentence is what peaked my interest. Secrete??? Secrete the technology??? What does this mean, if anything???

It's a fairly uncommon use of the word in colloquial American. In this use, it means "conceal".

originally posted by: TrueBrit
I assume this was some sort of paper thin device, probably affixed to the inside of the cap of the container to conceal its presence. A damned fine deployment strategy for this particular technology, if you ask me. You could do the same to bottled beer, boxes of pills, anything really. As theft prevention/detection methods go, you cannot really fault it!

Nah, the entire bottle is full of the thing.

What you have to do for a GPS tracker isn't just a GPS receiver, it's basically a GSM phone module and a battery.

a reply to: Bedlam

See, you say that, but there are penny sized tracker kits available to private consumers, so I can only assume that government gear is at least as good as that!

a reply to: Bedlam

I think this was a HUGE TELL by the police.

When I think of secretions, it is biological, not a speck sized tracker you pull the plastic seal off of and stick to the inside of a box.

originally posted by: seasonal
The first sentence is what peaked my interest. Secrete??? Secrete the technology??? What does this mean, if anything???

But I'm sure the police department meant put the "bug" (circuit board, battery) in the box, right? Not secrete the technology, like in a liquid form.

“The technology allows us to secrete the system in a variety of items and is only limited by our imagination,” the Police Department said in a statement. “We will continue using this technology as we want every criminal who is considering stealing something in our city to wonder if a GPS device is hidden inside.”

Just the basic hide the tracker with the permission of the owner of the pharmacy. That isn't what drew my interest to the story.

The suspects had no idea that the bottle of cough syrup perched on a shelf at a Tustin pharmacy contained something more than cough relief.

It wasn’t until the nondescript package was removed from the small Newport Avenue business by burglars that its secret ingredients went to work.

www.latimes.com...

secrete2
[si-kreet]
Spell Syllables
verb (used with object), secreted, secreting.
1.
to place out of sight; hide; conceal:
squirrels secreting nuts in a hollow tree trunk.


if a squirrels nuts are liquid, I'm never touching one...

I know you mean it in more more common form of discharging or release...

but context... you aint drinking a tracking device. or they wouldn't tell you.

a reply to: seasonal

Seasonal...

I really think that it might be a bit of a reach to go from "secrete" meaning to conceal as Bedlam mentioned, to "secretions", issue of pores, membranes, and the like.

originally posted by: seasonal
a reply to: Bedlam

I think this was a HUGE TELL by the police.

When I think of secretions, it is biological, not a speck sized tracker you pull the plastic seal off of and stick to the inside of a box.

Well, that's not their fault.. is it?

I doubt there is anything secreting, in the form of discharging, into the liquid by default once it thinks you've stolen it... how many people would just not buy it. but if there is tracking devices secreted onto it, it only helps.

Come on man...

originally posted by: TrueBrit
a reply to: Bedlam

See, you say that, but there are penny sized tracker kits available to private consumers, so I can only assume that government gear is at least as good as that!

Those aren't GPS based. Things like 'Tile' are bluetooth low energy spec beacons. They aren't GPS based. They just ping to the nearest phones, and the phone has to have bluetooth open and an app running in the background to pay attention to the beacon. If no one's around with the Tile app running, you won't know where the Tile is.

originally posted by: seasonal
a reply to: Bedlam

I think this was a HUGE TELL by the police.

When I think of secretions, it is biological, not a speck sized tracker you pull the plastic seal off of and stick to the inside of a box.

But you'd be thinking wrong. It's neither biological, nor speck sized.

a reply to: seasonal

How did it know it was stolen? How did the Police know which bottle to track? I mean, cough medicine is not a high value item is it.

Do we now have to keep receipts for everything in case we get a knock at the door a couple of weeks down the line?

If it is GPS with a battery i can't see how the device could be turned off at the checkout during the scanning process.

GPS on cough medicine? the tracking device would surely cost more than the item, was this a sting operation?

It's all part of the future, an internet of things. more and more products are getting chipped to maintain inventory and to watch how individual products go through the chain to the consumer.

There are more and more products to coming online to fight back.
A special wallet has been designed to block rfid bc credit cards have it and it can be hacked very easily, a passerby on the sidewalk could steal the information.

The good thing is they won't have to chip us. gps on the phone and wallet rfid contents, if they are both within a meter the chances the person of interest is there is 99%