Boris Johnson Wants Smartphone Killswitch As Mobile Phone Theft Rises

The Mayor of London Boris Johnson has called on a number of leading smartphone manufacturers to create an industry-standard ‘killswitch’ in their devices that would immediately deactivate the handset and deter would-be thieves.

Johnson has reportedly written to the UK heads of Apple, BlackBerry, Nokia, Samsung, Motorola, HTC, Microsoft and Sony demanding they work together to create such a system.

Last week, it was revealed the number of crimes committed in the UK is the lowest since records began, but the number of muggings is actually rising by an estimated 15 percent last year, according to the Financial Times.

Mobile phone theft rises

It is believed that 10,000 mobile phones a month are stolen in London, while phone theft is the fastest rising street crime in the US, where 113 handsets are stolen or lost every minute.

One of the Mayor’s key concerns is that retailers are not being vigilant enough when exchanging broken smartphones that could have been stolen for new or refurbished devices. Police say one individual was found to have exchanged 170 devices at a single store in London over the course of a year.

He has also reached out to officials in New York and San Francisco who are also concerned about the rising number of phone thefts in their cities, despite falling crime rates in the US.

The UK government has made a number of attempts to control the rise of mobile phone theft, but these have so far failed to reduce rising numbers. Recycling firms have agreed to a code of practice designed to prevent criminals from selling them stolen mobile phones, while police are able to identify stolen handset using the National Mobile Phone Register (NMPR).

US federal and state security experts have taken part in demonstrations of new theft deterrent measures on Apple and Samsung devices as part of a “Secure our smartphone” campaign supported by New York and San Francisco. Officials hope public pressure will encourage the two companies to cooperate and force other manufacturers to participate.

Apple currently has a GPS-enabled system called ‘Find My iPhone’ that allows a lost or stolen iPhone to be located. However, the app must be activated before it leaves the user’s possession.

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