Mayor of London and Met Commissioner walk round Ealing as they urge mobile phone industry to design out appeal to thieves

Mobile phone firms have been urged to “design out” their appeal to thieves to help tackle the rising number of robberies in London. Mayor Sadiq Khan and Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley have called on the industry to come up with “bold and innovative” solutions along the lines of car manufacturers, who worked with police to reduce the thefts of car radios and sat navs by integrating them into vehicle dashboards. It comes as the Met targets robbery hotspots in London with boosted neighbourhood policing as part of the New Met for London plan. According to Met figures, 38% of all personal robberies last year, equating to more than 9,500 offences, involved a phone being stolen, while nearly 70% of all thefts in London last year related to mobile phones. Many robberies involved violence and weapons, leaving victims traumatised and, in the most extreme cases, seriously or fatally injured.