I'd like to repost this as a top-level comment because a lot of people are complaining about the same thing:
It's a common misconception that Airtags and similar products are designed to help you locate stolen items.
They not. "Tracker on stolen device" and "Tracker planted for the purposes of stalking" are indistinguishable situations.
They're to help you find things that you lost. They're amazing for that. They're sometimes helpful for finding stolen things too, but that is a side-effect.
It's a common misconception that Airtags and similar products are designed to help you locate stolen items.
They not. "Tracker on stolen device" and "Tracker planted for the purposes of stalking" are indistinguishable situations.
They're to help you find things that you lost. They're amazing for that. They're sometimes helpful for finding stolen things too, but that is a side-effect.