Police can identify stolen mobiles in seconds

THE NATIONAL POLICING IMPROVEMENT AGENCY (NPIA) has developed a method for the police to identify stolen mobiles in seconds, compared to up to 20 minutes it took previously.

The National Mobile Phone Register can now be accessed by the Police National Computer, allowing officers to access information about lost and stolen mobile phones from handheld computers on the go.

Previously the Register was only accessible by a control room, forcing officers to call up and request a search, which proved time-consuming. Roughly a quarter of searches result in a match on the Register, but it remains to be seen if this figure will increase with the improved system.

Despite efforts to tackle the problem, mobile theft remains a big concern. 350,000 stolen mobile phones are added to the Register in the UK every year. 80,000 incidents, some of which involved multiple phones, were reported over the past year in London alone. The high value of smartphones, which are becoming increasingly popular, is likely a contributing factor to the increase in thefts.

Faster identification of stolen mobiles will undoubtedly to be welcomed by many, but there are potential privacy concerns over the Register being more easily accessible. The NPIA has attempted to allay these fears by stating that "no personal data is kept". Police need to cross-reference a crime number on the Register with other crime recording systems to identify who a phone belongs to.

The INQUIRER has asked the NPIA for more information on this initiative and will update this article accordingly. µ