NYC mayor blames Apple device thefts on crime increase
updated 12:14 pm EST, Fri December 28, 2012
Mayor's office suggests crime would otherwise be down
New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg is blaming a surge in thefts of Apple products for an increase in the city's overall crime rate, says the New York Times. Bloomberg made the comments during his weekly radio show. Statistics published this week by the New York Police Department show 3,484 more major crimes in 2012 than last yea; the number of Apple product thefts, meanwhile, is up by 3,890. "If you just took away the jump in Apple, we’d be down for the year," adds the mayor's press secretary, Marc La Vorgna.
During his radio show Bloomberg claimed that thieves appear to prefer Apple products. As a possible remedy, he suggested people make their devices harder to pickpocket. "Put it in a pocket in sort of a more body-fitting, tighter clothes, that you can feel if it was — if somebody put their hand in your pocket, not just an outside coat pocket," he commented. Since 2011, the NYPD has also been using decoy officers and other methods to specifically deter iPhone thefts.
"The proliferation of people carrying expensive devices around is so great," says La Vorgna. "It’s something that’s never had to be dealt with before." In all New York City crime is up 3.3 percent year-over-year, at 108,432 incidents versus 104,948.
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: 12-19-01
No, they would just be stealing whatever was the next most desirable, easy to steal thing. The problem is thieves, not what they choose to steal.