The link between mobile phones and crime
Until recently, phones have not been directly targeted as a means of preventing crime, from the perpetrators side. For the victims of mobile phone theft, there are many guidelines and suggestions about how you can prevent your mobile phone from being stolen. The majority of the guidelines are common sense and should become a customary part of a personâs routine.
There are some that are not just part of routine; instead they are ways of reducing the loss you suffer after your phone has been stolen. These include recording details such as the IMEI number of your mobile phone to be included in your report to the police. These measures are particularly important when you have a monthly payment scheme since charges can be mounted up on your account by the thief.
Where the mobile phones are being used to plan the crimes rather than being the ârewardâ of the crime, there are new legal powers being granted that will target them. These steps are being put in place to help reduce the capability, particularly of believed crime bosses, to plan crimes. There does not have to be a conviction, merely a suspicion that the phones will be used for serious crimes will be sufficient to deprive a person of their mobile phone.
This is intended to be a method to reduce the number of serious crimes committed here, and curtail the activities of suspected serious criminals. The problem many people see is the lack of evidence that is needed in order for a personâs mobile to be taken away from them. This could leave these powers wide open to abuse by people with a distorted vision of what these steps are supposed to accomplish. These steps could very well be implemented in a firm, but balanced way and lead to a decrease of serious crime through a lack of co-ordination.
Unfortunately, what could also happen is for people in positions of authority to abuse this power and contravene peopleâs civil liberties. People could randomly have their mobile phones taken away on a slim pre-text, with little real evidence of any criminal bent. The steps that are taken once a phone has been taken do not seem to be cut and dried so gaining an in-depth knowledge of peopleâs mobile habits is not out of the question. If the person from whom the phone was taken is an innocent civilian then their privacy will have been invaded in an unacceptable manner. The question really is, will the effect on the potential criminals that are correctly targeted outweigh the effect on innocent people incorrectly targeted?
Dial-a-Phone has supplied mobile phones on monthly contract to 2.9 million customers, and since it launched in 2000 over 550,000 customers have connected from the website. Further information can be found at the Dialaphone BlogThis article is free for republishing
Source: http://www.articlealley.com/article_120208_18.html
Keywords: capability, common sense, conviction, crime bosses, criminals, imei number, lack of evidence, measures, mobile phone theft, mobile phones, payment scheme, perpetrating, perpetrators, serious crimes, suspicion, thief.