London mayor has argued that phone companies should work to “design out” the crime by making the devices harder to unlock, reports Noah Vickers, Local Democracy Reporter

Sadiq Khan has hailed the significance of new security features on Android smartphones, claiming that they will help to curb London’s sharply rising rates of phone theft.

The mayor on Tuesday (22nd) visited Google’s offices in St Pancras for a demonstration of new software which the company says “will give added security for billions of people, including Londoners” before, during, and after a phone theft.

Khan has argued that phone companies should work to “design out” the crime by making the devices harder to unlock without the right passcode, fingerprint or face recognition, thus giving thieves less incentive to steal them and sell them on.

But the mayor’s critics argue he is still failing to grip phone thefts through policing in the capital, as the number of recorded offences has soared over the last couple of years.

At the visit to Google’s offices, Khan was shown how Android phones now include the option to hide particularly sensitive apps behind a separate Pin-locked area, giving an extra level of assurance for phone-owners if their device is later stolen.

An AI-powered tool called Theft Detection Lock has also been developed which can sense when the device has been snatched and run away with. Once activated, it locks the screen to prevent the thief accessing it or any data stored on it.

The company has separately created a tool which enables users to remotely lock their device using just their phone number should it be lost or stolen, which Google said will help users who cannot remember their Google credentials in the moments after a theft, but still need to secure their personal data.

The mayor told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “I welcome the progress Google have made.

“They’ve taken up the challenge I put to phone companies last year, which was that they’ve got to do more to try and design out crime. I used, as the example last year, the progress made with the theft of stereos in cars, or TomTom satnav machines and so forth.

“They’ve taken up that challenge using AI, using sensors. That means if you’ve got an Android phone and you download this software, if somebody does steal or rob your phone, god forbid, that phone is almost useless to the thief or the robber.

“Your data is protected, but you as the user have an easy way to deactivate your phone and make sure it’s not used or your data stolen.

“I actually want, as the ultimate prize, for second-hand stolen phones to be completely useless, for the parts not to be used by organised criminals and others, and that’s why those who make phones – mobile phone companies – need to do more still.

“At the same time, the police are working incredibly hard targeting crime hotspots, targeting organised criminals, bearing down on those who steal phones or try to steal phones. It’s a joint effort with the police and the phone companies.”

In the year following the lifting of lockdown restrictions, spanning October 2021 to September 2022, the Met Police recorded 37,534 phone thefts in London.

The figure rose by a quarter in the year that followed to hit 47,435 offences and then jumped by another 40% between October 2023 and September this year to reach 66,528.

Susan Hall, the mayor’s Tory opponent in City Hall elections earlier this year, has pointed out that almost half of reported thefts are not taken forwards for investigation by officers.

London Assembly member Hall criticised the mayor for failing to hold a promised second roundtable discussion with figures from across the mobile phone industry, following an initial session he hosted last year.

“Clearly these crimes and their many victims are not a priority to him,” she said in August.

Khan’s office has said he will instead look to a national summit on tackling phone theft – announced in September by the government – to build on the work of last year’s London roundtable.

The mayor said: “Across the country, you’ve seen a big increase in robberies and thefts of phones. It’s a particular issue in London, because of the tourists we have, a transient population and so forth.

“One out of three robberies is of a mobile phone, more than two out of three personal thefts are of a mobile phone, so it’s a big issue for me and for the police.”

He pointed to his recent decision to set up a new Robbery Reduction Partnership, seeking to link up the expertise of local councils, businesses, Transport for London and other organisations with the police.

“We now know from the data what the crime hotspots are, so there are police patrols – both overt and covert – targeting organised criminals,” Khan said.

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