Britain’s most senior police officer has called on Apple, Google, and other tech giants to install kill switches in smartphones to render stolen devices unusable, warning that weak security measures are fuelling a phone theft epidemic. Scotland Yard Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said gangsters have turned the resale of stolen phones into a ‘global criminal business’, with London becoming the phone snatching capital of Europe.
More than 200 snatch thefts occur daily across England and Wales, with the trade in stolen phones estimated to be worth £20 million a year. In London alone, over 64,000 phones were reported stolen in 2023, a figure that doubled in two years. Sir Mark criticised manufacturers for enabling the problem by allowing stolen phones to be easily resold, with second-hand iPhones fetching up to £400.
‘They are making a fortune out of this,’ Sir Mark told the Sunday Times. ‘The organised crime business model is enabled by the reusability and resaleability of stolen phones.’ He argued that a kill switch would make phones less attractive to thieves and urged companies to see it as a competitive advantage.
Most stolen phones are shipped overseas, with a Met Police sample of 3,500 handsets revealing that 22% ended up in Algeria and 16% in China. Gangs are smuggling phones in bulk on cargo planes, using Faraday boxes to block tracking signals. The Met has asked Border Force to look out for stolen phones and the National Crime Agency to investigate distribution networks.
Sir Mark suggested the Government could force tech giants to improve security through legislation if they fail to act. A Home Office-sponsored conference in February will address phone theft. Apple, Google, and Samsung said they are working with authorities and have introduced advanced safety measures.
