A Tale of Smart Phones and Their Smart Thieves

Theft of smart phones is on the rise. According to the Federal Communications Commission, four out of 10 robberies in major cities involve smart phones. In 2012, 1.6 million Americans were victims of smart phone thefts.

Does the taking of a smart phone under these circumstances constitute theft in Tennessee? The answer is yes. A theft occurs when a person knowingly exercises control over the property of another without the owner’s consent and with the intent to deprive the owner of the property. So, the legal requirements of the crime are met.

Smart phones are an easy target because they are small, valuable, and can be easily concealed during a getaway. The thieves quickly clear the phones of all identifying data and peddle them onto a secondary market where they are quickly convertible into a couple hundred dollars of easy cash.

Because of the high number of thefts, some experts believe that manufacturers and wireless carriers need to be part of the solution.  The problem would go away if stolen smart phones would be of no use to the thieves.

A new initiative being floated about by attorneys general, prosecutors, police chiefs, and consumer advocates from various jurisdictions is calling for all smart phones to be enabled with a kill switch. Critics, however, argue that any smart thief is able to disable the kill switch, so it is of no use.  Other proposals are:

• New software — Apple is introducing software to make it difficult to disable and reactivate an iPhone.

• New hardware — This would make it difficult to reassign phones to new users.

• New databases — The National Registry of Stolen Phones has recently been started.

• New laws — Senator Charles Schumer of New York introduced The Mobile Device Theft Deterrence Act last May.  It calls for a five-year prison sentence for anyone caught tampering with the identification numbers of stolen phones.

• Focused efforts by police — Police have refocused efforts to break up the theft rings and infiltrate the black market for the phones.

If you would like more information or if you’ve been accused of theft, contact a knowledgeable Franklin criminal defense attorney today.