AirTag Beeping alerts thief

I don't know how to get a message to the Apple people responsible for the AirTag so I'm posting it here.

While I was on a road trip the bag with my laptop was stolen. When I discovered it was gone I went into the FindMe app, which showed me on a map where it was - so I thought. But it turned out the thief had found the airtag - likely because it started beeping, which I understand they're programmed to do to alert passers-by to the presence of a lost item. The thief removed the airtag and threw it into an empty field. I had hidden the AirTag well inside the bag, so if it hadn't beeped the thief likely wouldn't have found it so soon, if at all.

I wish Apple would include programming to make it possible for the owner turn off the instruction that makes the AirTag beep when it's no longer near the owner's iPhone.

I would prefer that my airtags do NOT beep when they're separated from me. If an item is stolen that has an airtag hidden somewhere in it, the beep will alert the thief and the thief will find the AirTag and remove it