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Mobile phone theft victims track their stolen devices to the same address, while police do ‘nothing’ to recover them – new figures show one is stolen every six minutes in London, but only two per cent are recovered.
About 91,000 phone thefts were recorded in the capital last year alone, but fewer than 2,000 were returned to their owners amid fears it has become an ‘unsanctioned crime’.
Victims have said their confidence in the police to deal with the problem has “gone down” after describing how they were able to track down the location of their phones, but the crime has still not been solved.
Sharon Browne-Peter, who runs a sickle cell anemia charity, recalled how her phone was snatched from her hand earlier this February by a man riding a bicycle as she waited for a bus in Islington, north London.
To have you has your phone been stolen and have you been able to track its location? Get in touch by emailing jamie.phillips@mailonline.co.uk
Last year alone, around 91,000 phone thefts were recorded in the capital. Pictured: Two motorcyclists approach a man on his phone before snatching the device
She tracked the device’s location and informed police, but her phone was never recovered.
Ms Browne Peter told the BBC: ‘They told me there were hundreds of cases at the same address but there’s really nothing they can do. So after that point I kind of left it.”
Megan Kenyon, 25, who has had her cell phone stolen twice in the past year in the same area, said it feels like “a crime that goes unpunished.”
Both incidents occurred when someone on a motorcycle or bicycle cycled near her as she was walking down the street, before snatching the phone from her hand.
She said, “I knew the police wouldn’t do anything about it. The first time it happened and I reported it, nothing happened. (This was) despite being able to track its location and see where it had been taken.
“On the second occasion, I had a conversation with a police officer who said there was nothing they could do because the thief was wearing a balaclava.”
Ms Kenyon added: ‘It just feels like there’s no point in reporting it in the first place unless it’s necessary for your insurance.
“It’s just for evidence, not for any consequences. It is a crime that goes unpunished, the police seem to make no effort to prevent it.
“You feel very violated, your whole life is on your phone, you may not know what to do.”
Georgina Banham had her phone snatched by a man on a bicycle in Walworth, south London, as she spoke to her father as she walked to a supermarket.
She tracked the location of her phone as it moved to an address in London, then Dubai, then China.
Despite reporting the crime to the Metropolitan Police, she only received a case number and was never called about the incident.
She said, “My trust in the police is zero.”
Both incidents occurred when someone on a motorcycle or bicycle cycled near her as she was walking down the street, before snatching the phone from her hand (file image)
HM Chief Inspector of Constabulary Andy Cooke (pictured) attributed the number of offenses that went unsolved to ‘missed opportunities’ by increasingly inexperienced investigators
It comes as HM Superintendent of Police Andy Cooke admitted ‘the statistics are hard to read’ as he attributed the number of unsolved offenses to ‘missed opportunities’ by increasingly inexperienced investigators.
He told BBC’s Today programme: ‘It’s not just a problem for the Metropolitan Police, but for the whole country. There are a number of facets, firstly the demand for policing is increasing and policing has finite resources so it needs to prioritize accordingly.
‘However, a recent inspection we carried out on volume crime – burglary, robbery and theft – showed quite clearly that the police were not always making the best use of the possibilities they had to catch those responsible.
“What we found during our most recent inspection was that from the first point of contact, when the first call came in, opportunities were not taken to first secure forensic evidence and second to provide good crime prevention advice.
“After that, the investigations themselves didn’t always come at the right time, so that golden hour to preserve the forensic evidence was missed.
‘Detectives, because the police have recruited a lot of people in a short time, there is a lot of inexperience. When you have inexperienced people you need very strong oversight and we found that was lacking in a lot of troops across the country.”
It is believed that the iPhones will likely be stripped for parts and filtered into legal markets, or turned into “Frankenstein phones.”
Westminster (25,899 thefts), Camden (7,892) and Hackney (4,618) were among the hardest hit boroughs last year.
The Met Police said officers “carry out day-to-day operations to deal with offenders.”
A spokesman for the Met Police added: ‘Retrieving phones is difficult because those who steal them pass them on to be sold very quickly.
“Police are conducting day-to-day operations to deal with offenders and are working with thrift stores to crack down on stolen mobile phones being resold.
“Specially trained agents focus their attention on hotspots, but also on key moments of the day, to prevent those who want to steal from mopeds and other means of transport.”
To have you has your phone been stolen and have you been able to track its location? Get in touch by emailing jamie.phillips@mailonline.co.uk
Phone theft victims trace stolen devices to SAME address as police ‘do nothing’