Home Secretary hosts detailed talks on tackling mobile phone theft

Held on 6 February in central London, the Mobile Phone Theft Summit involved in-depth discussions taking place in the shadow of data suggesting that street crime episodes have soared by 43% nationwide, driven by a significant rise in street-level crime (including that focused on smart phones).   

For too long, asserts the Government, crimes like these have been neglected, which is why – as part of the Labour Party’s ‘Plan for Change’ – the Home Secretary will legislate where necessary to ensure the police service has the powers at its disposal to treat this issue with the seriousness it warrants.

There’s a feeling that the police service needs to step up its enforcement activity in this area on a nationwide basis. This will include better use of intelligence to drive more ‘hot spot’ policing and targeted operations, particularly around high-risk periods such as Christmas and when new smart phones are released.

The Home Secretary is urging companies including Apple, Samsung and Google, as well as law enforcement, to join forces in building on existing anti-theft security measures and help to design-out and disincentivise smart phone theft by making such phones effectively worthless to criminals.    

On that last point, Cooper has called for a much deeper dive on all available sources of data and intelligence to build a much more comprehensive diagnosis of the problem and the scale of the criminal market and, subsequently, drive joint solutions.

All those in attendance at the talks agreed to greater collaboration between the police service and the tech domain as a result of significantly boosting intelligence sharing, on both sides. The discussions will continue in three months’ time.

The summit follows on from the Government kick-starting the recruitment of 13,000 neighbourhood police officers, Police Community Support Officers and ‘Special Constables’ with £200 million of investment so that every community will have a named and contactable officer who knows their patch.

Stronger action    

Yvette Cooper stated: “Over the last few years, mobile phone thefts have shot up, often driven by organised crime, in turn leaving our streets feeling less safe. That situation has to change. The Government, tech companies and law enforcement must jointly pursue stronger action against organised criminality and prevent acts of phone theft on our streets. The discussions represent a significant step forward in addressing the need to come together as partners and disrupt, design-out and disincentivise these damaging crimes.”   

Cooper continued: “At the same time, this Government is doubling new investment into neighbourhood policing in order to tackle theft on our High Streets and in our communities and keep the streets safe.”  

This commitment follows the Metropolitan Police Service’s significant recent intensification operation, which led to 1,000 stolen smart phones being seized and 230 arrests made.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan commented: “I’m really pleased to have joined these discussions with mobile phone firms, the Home Secretary, Metropolitan Police Service officers and representatives of the National Crime Agency to discuss our ongoing partnership-led approach to tackle mobile phone crime.”

Khan elaborated: “The Metropolitan Police Service’s hard-working officers have stepped up their efforts in London to prevent and tackle mobile phone theft, with patrols and plain-clothed operations in ‘hot spot’ areas now increasingly using phone-tracking data and intelligence. This work is being supported by record funding from City Hall, which is boosting neighbourhood policing in our communities.”

In conclusion, Khan noted: “We know that we cannot arrest our way out of mobile phone crime, which itself has become a national and international issue and needs innovative solutions. I welcome recent security updates by leading mobile phone companies that we’ve supported. Indeed, in these talk we’ve spoken about how we can build on those updates and work together to design-out the scourge of mobile phone crime and build a safer London for all.”

Complex issue 

Aleyne Johnson, director of Government and external relations at Samsung UK, explained: “Samsung is deeply committed to working closely with the Home Office, the Mayor’s Office, the Metropolitan Police Service and additional authorities in London on the issue of mobile phone theft and related crimes. We are encouraged by the collaborative discussions held at the Mobile Phone Theft Summit, which have examined existing and potential new solutions to help combat this complex issue and improve the safety of mobile phone users.”  

Further, Johnon said: “We encourage all of our customers to protect their devices by setting up existing Android security and privacy features, such as Theft Detection Lock, Offline Device Lock and Remote Lock. Our recent One UI 7 update has built further on those protections with new anti-theft features such as identity checks, biometric authentication and security delay, all of which are featured in the latest Galaxy S25 Series handsets.”

Alex Rawle, safety and security lead at Google UK, informed Security Matters: “Android devices offer added protection for millions of people right around the UK. We encourage smart phone owners to make use of existing security and privacy features like Theft Detection Lock, Offline Device Lock and Remote Lock in order to improve the safety of their devices and data.”  

Gary Davis, senior director for regulatory and legal at Apple, stated: “Apple works closely with law enforcement bodies in the UK and globally to fight smart phone theft. We welcome the opportunity to further collaborate on this issue going forward.”  

Davis continued: “Apple smart phones include industry-leading features that help users keep their devices and data safe. Among them are Activation Lock, a feature that’s enabled automatically when Find My iPhone is activated and works in the background to make it more difficult for someone to use or sell an iPhone or iPad if it’s ever lost or stolen.”  

Stolen Device Protection adds additional security on iPhones if a device is away from familiar locations. This is complemented by tools such as Recovery Key, a method to regain control if access to an account is lost.