Thefts of cell phones on the rise across America

Fox News ^ | 10/21/2012 | Fox News

[Dallas59]

SAN FRANCISCO – In this tech-savvy city teeming with commuters and tourists, the cell phone has become a top target of robbers who use stealth, force and sometimes guns.

Nearly half of all robberies in San Francisco this year are cell phone-related, police say, and most occur on bustling transit lines.

One thief recently snatched a smartphone while sitting right behind his unsuspecting victim and darted out the rear of a bus in mere seconds.

Another robber grabbed an iPhone from an oblivious bus rider -- while she was still talking.

And, in nearby Oakland, City Council candidate Dan Kalb was robbed at gunpoint of his iPhone Wednesday after he attended a neighborhood anti-crime meeting.

[Paladin2]

"in nearby Oakland, City Council candidate Dan Kalb was robbed at gunpoint of his iPhone Wednesday after he attended a neighborhood anti-crime meeting."

Perfect.

[HiTech RedNeck]

"I thought he was going to shoot me," recalled Kalb, who had dropped his phone during the stickup. "He kept saying, `Find the phone! Find the phone!"'

Said robber could rest easy that Kalb wouldn't rummage into a pocket and find, not a phone, but a gun. THAT was banned.

[bigbob]

So next Apple needs to offer the iGun, which is a phone that can accept a 15-round magazine.

[telstar12.5]

..people wouldn’t be loosing these things if they kept ‘em in their pocket, and not in front of their faces all the damn time..

[TigerClaws]

They could easily lock these phones down but want to make them easy to sell (steal?).

[HiTech RedNeck]

I’d suggest that phone owners also be issued small separate fobs with long lived nonrechargeable batteries, that can be activated with a button push to have tracking initiated on a lost, robbed, or snatched phone. A snatcher might dissolve into a crowd in a split second before a gun could be drawn. A tracked phone might lock its own battery compartment to make it difficult to disable it, and on option might also set a siren noise screaming.

[South40]

Completely predictable.

[HiTech RedNeck]

With so many folks it’s like the world’s their telephone booth. What really looks whacky is a person gabbing a mile a minute on a hands free phone with Bluetooth earpiece, specially if it’s an “ethnic” woman wearing a shawl so you can’t see the earpiece. First time I saw and heard that, I thought the woman must have been talking to herself out of craziness.

[James C. Bennett]

I’d suggest that phone owners also be issued small separate fobs with long lived nonrechargeable batteries, that can be activated with a button push to have tracking initiated on a lost, robbed, or snatched phone. A snatcher might dissolve into a crowd in a split second before a gun could be drawn. A tracked phone might lock its own battery compartment to make it difficult to disable it, and on option might also set a siren noise screaming.

Apple iPhones already have this feature without requiring a fob:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/find-my-iphone/id376101648?mt=8

[Paladin2]

Dan, Oakland is LOST. Time to withdraw.

[HiTech RedNeck]

With an app that chooses the kind of bullet you want it to have. Hollow point? Safety slug? Flechettes? The appropriate gesture on the screen and micro-machinery customizes whatever’s in the chamber in a split second....

[HiTech RedNeck]

Having an emergency fob that can do it might prove handier than having to haul out another iThing.

[telstar12.5]

...yeah, and this is a problem i really could give a damn about..

[C210N]

How can this be so... are not cell phones now free, just like contraceptives?

[Revolting cat!]

I warned them that they shouldn't have made them so small and odorless!

[C210N]

So next Apple needs to offer the iGun, which is a phone that can accept a 15-round magazine.

Looks like nokia beat 'em to it

[Revolting cat!]

MY personal phone. Go ahead, try to steal it, chump!

[Lurkina.n.Learnin]

Who buys these. It would seem like they would know as quick as you activated it that it is stolen.

[HiTech RedNeck]

Instructions
(1) Shoot
(2) Call 911