Police plan to 'text-bomb' phone thieves

Thieves would be deluged with police messages under the initiative

A crime-fighting scheme which involves bombarding stolen mobile phones with text messages is being considered by Scotland Yard.

The plan, known as "phone-bombing", would involve sending text messages every few minutes, telling the user the phone has been stolen and should not be bought or sold.

The MPS is always interested in finding new and innovative ways of tackling crime

Metropolitan Police Service

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir John Stevens studied the scheme earlier this week during a two-day fact-finding mission to Amsterdam, where it is being piloted.

Officers are now considering whether it could be effective in London and are talking to mobile phone companies about funding the operation.

Chief Superintendent Trevor Pearman, of the Territorial Policing Crime Support Unit, said: "The Metropolitan Police Service is always interested in finding new and innovative ways of tackling crime, particularly street crime, which causes so much misery to victims.

"We have listened to what our police colleagues in Holland have told us and we are keen to see whether it could be effective here in London."

Many people are targeted by thieves in the street

The frequency of the messages makes the phones virtually useless and could be a deterrent to thieves, a Scotland Yard spokeswoman said.

But police would need to study whether the scheme could be made cost-effective, as each text message can cost about 20p.

The scheme in Holland has failed to secure financial support from the major phone companies.

Phone tagging

Crime statistics show that around a third of all recorded street robberies now involve mobile phones.

And so-called "phone-jacking" accounted for much of the 14% rise in robberies in the latest crime figures.

Consignments of mobile phones are also increasingly being targeted by organised criminals.

Last month the Home Office launched a scheme where electronic tags are implanted into truckloads of mobile phones to make them less attractive to thieves and easier to trace if they are stolen.