Stolen phone data available on beat

Police officers on the beat will be able to identify stolen mobile phones within seconds

Published: 2:00am, 11th April 2011
Updated: 8:11am, 16th April 2011

Police on the beat will be able to identify stolen mobile phones within seconds thanks to new technology.

Officers out on patrol will be able to access details of the 350,000 phones which are lost or stolen every year without having to contact their control room to request a time-consuming search of the database, the National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA) said.

Instead they will have the information at their fingertips within seconds after the National Mobile Phone Register was incorporated into the Police National Computer.

Officers carry out around 25,000 searches of the register each month, but it can take up to 20 minutes to determine whether a phone has been stolen.

Tom McArthur, the NPIA's director of operations, said cutting that time down to a few seconds would help police recover more phones.

Detective Chief Superintendent Mick McNally, of Scotland Yard, added: "For the first time, frontline officers can now obtain instantaneous results of searches on suspected stolen mobile phones.

"It sends a clear message to phone thieves that police and partners can identify stolen mobile phones in the hands of the thief or another individual."