>Oakland Deputy Chief of Police Drennon Lindsey told the station that residents should be aware that some thieves have technology that enables them to locate items like laptops if left hidden in an unattended vehicle.
I mean x-ray visors or what?
You hold it up to the car window, then break the glass with a sharp tap. Reach in and flip down the back seat. Then you can see what's in the trunk.
Not as high-tech as you were imagining, but it does enable you "to locate items like laptops left hidden in an unattended vehicle".
BTW breaking a car glass with a hammer is not as easy as you may think, you need a very, very sharp point to break it, a spring loaded device would be much more effective:
https://newsroom.aaa.com/2019/07/vehicle-escape-tools-testin...
Any device you use to detect the laptop gets used whether or not the laptop is present.
I read it as:
"do not leave laptops in cars, because those cars, thanks to the advanced technology some thieves possess, are more likely to have their windows broken (and the laptop stolen)"
maybe it was to be read as:
"do not leave laptops in cars, because ALL cars will have their windows broken, but if there is no laptop inside, it won't be stolen"
Police scare tactics (and the the scare tactics of the various—disproportionately right-wing extremist—snake oil peddlers police employ as consultants about the vast array of things they don't understand) often have very tenuous, if any, relation to facts.