Mobile Phone Thieves - Warning

[KL SNA]

Over the weekend we have seen further thefts with phones being carelessly left on open view.

 

Officers visited 31 cafes yesterday and saw over 100 phones and other items on open display inviting thieves - officers advised people of the risk of having items stolen.

 

On Friday, an eagle eyed member of the public caught a thief in action in the city centre stealing a phone from a female. The phone was recovered and the offender quickly arrested by plain clothes officers from the team. A massive thanks go to the member of the public whose actions led to the arrest and recovery of the phone.

 

Thanks

 

Inspector Darren Starkey

[Bypassblade]

Over the weekend we have seen further thefts with phones being carelessly left on open view.

 

Officers visited 31 cafes yesterday and saw over 100 phones and other items on open display inviting thieves - officers advised people of the risk of having items stolen.

 

On Friday, an eagle eyed member of the public caught a thief in action in the city centre stealing a phone from a female. The phone was recovered and the offender quickly arrested by plain clothes officers from the team. A massive thanks go to the member of the public whose actions led to the arrest and recovery of the phone.

 

Thanks

 

Inspector Darren Starkey

 

Great result lets hope they are prosecuted to the full extent of the law

 

Pete

[Rochelle15]

Thank you for this warning

[SmartMarts]

All these nit picking comments makes me wonder if people have nothing better to do. Regardless of the statistics stated, this is a growing trend and as the Inspector says, even more so now that the students are back.

 

Why can't people just heed the warning and be grateful that the police are aware, making the public aware and are acting on this menace instead of trying to be clever and bickering with pathetic pointscoring, or is that too easy for all the keyboard warriors whose raison d'etre is to make snide comments, regardless of the post.

 

I bet they would be the ones who shout the loudest if this insidious thieving happened to them.

 

I for one am very grateful for the advice and will pass it on to family and friends.

 

Thank you.

[jezzyjj]

There's nothing sadder than wanting to call a taxi and having no phone, or having lost a mate and having no way to contact them, or leaving one group to join another, except you can't because you don't know where they are now...

Nothing sadder!! Um let me think about that....cancer, divorce, dementia, your pet being run over, losing a child or the fact that many people cannot even afford a proper meal let alone an expensive phone.

 

The other thing to be aware of when in cafes and such like is your bag with phone/money etc in. If under/next to your chair unless against a wall it's easy pickings.

Edited October 14, 2013 by jezzyjj

[Cyclone]

Read back, I was repeating the turn of phrase already used by a previous poster who thought there was nothing sadder than someone having a mobile phone with them on a night out.

 

 

Here, I'll save you the effort.

 

There's nothing sadder than seeing a table full of people all staring at their bloody phones instead of interacting.

[KL SNA]

Further info to be aware of.......

 

3 phones were stolen from lone victims in the early hours in the city centre today. The offenders M.O. is to approach, give a so called friendly hug to "cajole and befriend" the victim and then dip the phone, usually from their pockets. Please be aware of this in the city centre during the night time economy with the weekend coming up.

 

Annoyingly, we have had at least one person falsely reporting being subjected to robbed of their phones in the street, who are currently subject to wasting police time processes. This is detrimental to real victims of crime and also diverts police officers wasting effort on false reports/investigations.

 

The male caught last week stealing a phone, by the member of the public, was charged with another 2 similar offences and remanded in custody.

 

Thanks

 

Inspector Darren Starkey

[Michael_W]

I know people who have been targeted in the city centre both in bars and on the streets, who have had phones and cash cards taken, the people targeted were generally in a state of inebriation, so drinkers beware !

 

Oh and may I add both male and female thieves were involved.

Edited October 17, 2013 by Michael_W

[jezzyjj]

Read back, I was repeating the turn of phrase already used by a previous poster who thought there was nothing sadder than someone having a mobile phone with them on a night out.

Except you are repeating in a way that seems as if you agree with them though.

 

---------- Post added 18-10-2013 at 18:31 ----------

 

Further info to be aware of.......

 

3 phones were stolen from lone victims in the early hours in the city centre today. The offenders M.O. is to approach, give a so called friendly hug to "cajole and befriend" the victim and then dip the phone, usually from their pockets.

This is a common trick in Barcelona and when someone tried it on a friend of mine. He picked their pocket and handed their wallet back to them.

[Notes]

On Saturday 28th of December, my Samsung S3 phone was stolen by a guy giving out dirty dancing leaflets in the Starbucks at Orchard Square in town

Spoke to my friend who works there and she said this isn't the first time it's happened. Be careful everyone! Sadly, I was just so relaxed (as always when I'm in there) and was unaware of him.

Edited December 31, 2013 by Notes