London wants to work with manufacturers to combat mobile phone theft

“Snatch theft” is a worrying trend in the UK. It involves people having their mobile phones snatched from their hands while they are using them. Most of the crimes are never solved. That is set to change.

London (dpa) – After a sharp increase in mobile phone thefts on the streets, the British government will work with industry to ensure greater security. Between April 2023 and March 2024, an estimated 78,000 people had a mobile phone or bag snatched from them on British streets, according to data from the Crime Survey for England and Wales. This was an increase of 150 percent compared to the same period last year. Experts also suspect that this is due to a growing market for used smartphones.

The Home Office in London announced a summit with technology companies and manufacturers. Innovations that can prevent this “snatch theft” will be examined. One possibility is greater use of functions such as “kill switches”, which can be used to deactivate smartphones immediately after they have been stolen, it said.

An average of 200 crimes per day

According to the Home Office, there have recently been around 200 crimes every day in England and Wales. In more than a third (36 percent) of all thefts, a mobile phone was stolen. Only in the rarest of cases is a charge brought; in more than 80 percent of cases, the investigation is closed before a suspect is identified.

Police Secretary Diana Johnson called the figures “worrying”. “Mobile phone companies must ensure that stolen phones can be locked quickly, easily and permanently, rather than re-registering them for sale on the second-hand market,” Johnson said. “If we work together, the government, technology companies and law enforcement can destroy the business model of the phone thieves and moped gangs that rely on this business.”

London wants to work with manufacturers to combat mobile phone theft – Panorama

You may also like...

Recent Posts

London wants to work with manufacturers to combat mobile phone theft – Panorama

You may also like...

Singer Bebe Rexha claims she was banned from a Lufthansa flight after a security guard “threatened” her for speaking Albanian

Autopsy report finds Scottsdale detective's death was accidental

Woodbridge police search for fugitive suspect in domestic stabbing

Recent Posts