This is a complicated situation as a lot of police departments simply won't, or don't have the resources to devote to things like stolen mobile devices. They may contain invaluable data that means a lot to the owner but dollar-wise it's just petty thievery. In a densely populated area like NYC or Chicago if you report a lost tablet to a cop it's a matter of filing out a report and that'll get tossed into stack of thousands of other, similar reports, or just trashed in a day. Confronting the thief yourself could be risking your life.
But more details as to where this location is might reveal something.