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Progress and prospects in the prevention of mobile phone theft
journal contribution
posted on 2006-06-08, 15:30 authored by Jen Mailley, Shaun Whitehead, Graham FarrellMobile phone ownership continues to be a driver
of theft and robbery in the UK. Several years of
news headlines such as “Mobile Phones and iPods
fuel rise in Muggings” ((2006) Independent, February 27,)
suggest that the problem may be getting worse rather than
better. Whether this is true probably depends on what
is measured. It is likely that total crimes have remained
stable or increased at the same time as risk-per-phoneowner
has decreased. The latest Oftel figures show that in
2005-6, the UK’s mobile phone subscriptions exceeded the
population for the first time, having doubled in the last five
or six years. The country being awash with mobile phones,
stealing them is like shooting the proverbial fish in a barrel.
We argue below that progress has been made in tackling
mobile phone theft and that this is not incompatible with
an increase in the problem, which would have been even
greater without the measures taken to date. There may be
a case for cautious optimism – but only if efforts to prevent
mobile phone theft continue to be at least as persistent,
innovative and adaptable as the thieves themselves to
the point where the problem is stabilized and diminishes
thereafter. Government, police and the mobile industry,
working together, have a technological and geo-political
advantage over offenders that, with a lot of skill and dogged
determination, could yield absolute crime reductions in the
future. What follows reviews some of the progress to date
in tackling mobile phone theft and suggests this should
form a platform for an expanded crime prevention effort.
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