Met Police Chief Demands Phone Giants Turn Stolen Devices into 'Unusable Bricks'
Sir Mark Rowley, head of Britain's largest police force, has issued a stark warning to phone companies, urging them to transform stolen devices into 'unusable bricks' to dismantle the lucrative criminal market driving phone thefts. Speaking at the International Mobile Phone Crime Conference in central London, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner argued that if telecoms giants took more decisive action to devalue stolen handsets, there would be no incentive for criminal gangs to operate.
Escalating Crisis in Phone Theft
Sir Mark highlighted that phone thefts represent a 'significant' problem for the Met, which contends with some of the highest rates of robbery and theft from the person in England and Wales. He emphasised that while phone manufacturers have heavily invested in protecting user data from fraudsters and cyber criminals, they have neglected the physical safety of customers who carry expensive devices worth up to £2,000 in public.
'If a stolen phone were to become an unusable brick and the parts were not recyclable, there would be no criminal market,' Sir Mark stated. He expressed frustration over years of discussions with tech companies, questioning why they continue to leave clients at risk. The Met is prepared to call on the Home Secretary to enact legislative changes if necessary and will encourage international law enforcement to adopt similar measures.
Exploitation of Children and Organised Crime
In a disturbing revelation, Sir Mark disclosed that adverts on platforms like Snapchat are offering children as much as £380 to steal a single iPhone, with bonuses of £100 for stealing ten devices. He warned that this trade is not merely about individual offences but serves as an entry point into organised crime.
'Children recruited to snatch phones for quick cash are being groomed into criminal networks, normalised into offending behaviour and pushed further into exploitation,' he explained. What begins as a minor theft can escalate into pathways involving debt, coercion, violence, and deeper criminality, posing a severe threat to youth safety and community security.
Alarming Statistics and Recovery Efforts
Figures released under Freedom of Information legislation paint a grim picture: between 2017 and February 27, 2024, a total of 587,498 phones were stolen in London (excluding the City), with only 13,998 recovered, leaving 573,500 unreturned. Separate data from the Met's crime website shows that in 2023, there were 52,820 thefts from the person involving phones and 14,326 robberies; in 2024, these numbers rose to 70,249 thefts and 11,125 robberies; and in 2025, they were 61,292 thefts and 10,207 robberies.
Despite recent efforts, including the arrest of 248 people and recovery of around 770 stolen handsets in a month up to mid-February, the Met remains an outlier for personal robbery rates per thousand people. The force also solves a disproportionately small percentage of these offences compared to others in England and Wales, with only 6.9% of personal robbery cases and 0.9% of theft from the person cases resulting in a suspect being identified and dealt with in the year to December 2025.
Proposed Solutions and Future Actions
The Met is advocating for several key measures to combat phone theft effectively. These include enabling anti-theft protection by default on all devices, ensuring stolen phones are rendered completely unusable, and improving access to IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) data to facilitate the return of devices to their rightful owners. In Westminster, for instance, phones are involved in 69% to 72% of thefts from the person and personal robberies each week, underscoring the urgency of these reforms.
As part of its operational strategy, the force is deploying high-powered e-bikes and drones to target phone theft hotspots. However, Sir Mark's call to action underscores a broader need for corporate responsibility and international cooperation to address this growing epidemic, which not only impacts victims but also fuels organised crime networks preying on vulnerable youth.
