Apple Now Working With the NYPD To Curb iPhone Thefts 123
An anonymous reader writes "Back in late 2012, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg attributed the increase in statistical city-wide crime to Apple, noting that thieves had a propensity to target folks using iPhones and iPads. As an illustration of the problem, there were 3,890 more Apple product thefts than in 2012 than there were in 2011. At the time, Mayor Bloomberg's press secretary Marc La Vorgna explained that 'if you just took away the jump in Apple', crime in New York City would have been down year over year. Indeed, the number of major crimes reported in 2011 in NYC came in at 104,948 compared to 108.432 in 2012. If you exclude Apple related thefts from the figures, then the crime rate in 2012 is essentially the same as it was in 2011. In light of that, a new report from the New York Post details that Apple is now working with the NYPD in an effort to curb iPhone and other Apple related thefts."
How about bricking them? (Score:4, Insightful)
Why not simply brick any device reported stolen? I understand it's done in other countries (or for other devices).
Nothing will work (Score:3, Insightful)
Apple's consumers tend to want to show off the fact that they are Apple consumers. Even their phone & tablet covers have a hole to show off the logo.
My mother taught me not to flash around my valuables, but I doubt you can convince most folks to do this.
Pass the blame (Score:5, Insightful)
This is a ridiculous supposition. Are we suppose to believe that the criminals responsible for these thefts were lured into stealing by the flashy Apple gizmos? Or that these criminals would reject crime and find honest work if only New York could rid itself of Apple products?
This is just another example of politicians passing the blame to something else. In this case it's Apple, as blaming Apple for life's ills is in vogue at the moment.
Re:PR is the death of rationality (Score:5, Insightful)
Chuckle.
I thought the same thing when I read the summary. In one breath they are talking about Major crimes, and in the next sentence they lump in iphone theft in that group. Yet if you report an iPhone theft the police won't do a damn thing about it other than give you some paper to fill out. How is that considered a Major Crime?
Bullshit analysis (Score:5, Insightful)
The vast majority of car thefts now involve fuel injection cars. If you don't count those, the crime rate would be down!
Make no mistake, we, the police department, are doing a GREAT job. It's your damn newfangled fuel injection systems that are the problem!
Things I learned from this advertisement (Score:3, Insightful)
From the Article "The California-based company then informs the NYPD of the device’s current location — and it can track it even if it was reregistered with a different wireless provider."...they then boast how they have tracked a phone to brazil!?
Nobody, no-one concerned that a Apple is tracking their customers, and can do so without their knowledge.
Seriously "Do no evil?"
Re:How about bricking them? (Score:5, Insightful)
Actually your slant is misdirected. It's the cell providers who would brick a phone, and they can do so easily but have resisted calls to do so until recent pressure from certain congressmen and law enforcement brought the issue to a boiling point. It has nothing to do with 'Apple', other than the fact that those phones havea high market value, but rather there was nothing preventing a criminal from activating a known stolen phone on a providers network.
The simple fact is, that cell providers will happily continue to allow criminals to use your stolen phone, even knowing that it's stolen, because it's a source of revenue.
http://blog.chron.com/techblog/2012/11/finally-wireless-carriers-collaborating-on-stolen-cellphone-database/ [chron.com]