Old Lyme Democrats turn to tracking technology to find stolen signs

Old Lyme ― As election season gears up, some political operatives are using tracking devices and trail cameras to pinpoint the whereabouts of stolen lawn signs.

Democratic Town Committee Chairwoman Kim Thompson said two of her campaign signs for presidential candidate Kamala Harris and running mate Tim Walz were stolen this week on Littlefield Lane. The Apple AirTag devices she attached to them tracked one sign to her neighbor’s house and another to a home in Salem near the Lyme border.

The devices, which are the size of a half-dollar coin and start at $29 each, connect wirelessly to smart phones so users can look at their exact location on a map.

Thompson said a trooper from the Connecticut State Police barracks in Westbrook responded to her call about the theft of the first sign.

“He drove down the street and talked with the neighbor and got my sign back,” she said.

She attributed the theft to teenage antics. No charges were filed.

“Hopefully the parents are apologetic and the kid will have learned a lesson that you can’t take people’s stuff,” she said.

She said a trooper from the Colchester barracks, which covers Salem, went to the address on Gungy Road where the second tracking device was pinging. She was told police were not able to retrieve the sign.

The committee on social media also posted video footage from a trail camera of a man scurrying to steal a sign from Four Mile River Road, his distinctively bald head illuminated against the darkness.

“At this point I’m encouraging people to put trail cams on their signs in they have them,” she said.

According to Resident State Trooper Matt Weber, the Four Mile River Road homeowner did not want to press charges.

Republican Town Committee Chairman Randy Nixon on Thursday said emphatically that the committee does not condone the theft of campaign signs.

“We fully support freedom of speech,” he said.

Nixon expressed full support for using tracking devices and cameras to identify the sign stealing culprits.

“Such behavior needs to be stopped,” he said.

Nixon was not aware of Republican campaign signs being stolen in town this year.

Free expression

Thompson counted at least seven signs stolen over the past few weeks across town. She said one with a tracking device on it was found Thursday in a dumpster.

State police spokeswoman Sarah Salerno said criminal charges, when they are pursued, are based on factors including the number of signs allegedly taken, the value of the signs, the presence of no trespassing signs posted on the property where the signs were located, and any damage caused to the property.

She declined to provide statistics on the number of sign thefts in the Westbrook barracks’ coverage area because the state police reporting system does not have a specific category for that type of incident.

Salerno said people who call police about stolen signs often say they wanted to make police aware of the incident but don’t wish to pursue a formal investigation.

The state Office of Legislative Research has reported that stealing, defacing or vandalizing election lawn signs typically results in tickets or misdemeanor charges for larceny or criminal trespassing.

Thompson described herself as apologetic when she called state police multiple times about “sign nonsense.” But she said the technological nudge from the tracking devices helped make the job easier for responding troopers.

“I think they were a little tickled we had put AirTags in the signs,” she said.

She pointed to sign theft as a First Amendment issue because it threatens free expression and silences voices.

“And on a personal level, it feels a bit like harassment,” she said.

e.regan@theday.com