NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH: Lambeth Police emphasises the importance of registering the IMEI number of your phone (of any model)

Stockwell Park Conservation Area

Neighbourhood Watch

Neighbourhood Watch Coordinator David Tomlinson

neighbourhoodwatch@tomlinsons.uk.com

Following on from my recent note about the spate of IPhone robberies near Stockwell Tube and Stockwell Road, this circular (in Item 1) from Lambeth Police emphasises the importance of registering the IMEI number of your phone (of any model) – see Item 2 for details:

1.    Mobile phone IMEI numbers lead to arrests in Lambeth

For the week ending 25 September 2011 the National Mobile Phone Unit (NMPU) has reported that Lambeth Borough Police is the highest performing borough in the whole of the MPS for conducting IMEI checks on the National Mobile Property Register during ‘Stop and Searches’ and for prisoners in custody. This has resulted in three arrests over the past six days.

This top performance follows recent weeks of activity led by Lambeth officers to increase the recording and searching of IMEI numbers for stolen mobile phones.

The International Mobile Equipment Identity number (IMEI) is a unique number associated with every mobile phone handset and if registered, can help police find your mobile phone if stolen.

As part of their action in recovering stolen mobile phones and arresting thieves, officers have:

·         Obtained all IMEI numbers from victims of crime where a mobile phone was stolen
·         Conducted IMEI checks on the National Mobile Property Register (NMPR) before reporting a crime
·         Conducted IMEI checks on the NMPR during stop and searches on the street
·         Conducted IMEI checks on the NMPR for phones belonging to prisoners in police custody

The three arrests for possession of a stolen phone by means of robbery when the IMEI was checked during separate stop and searches were a sixteen year old youth from south Lambeth, a seventeen year old youth from Brixton, and a thirteen year old youth from Clapham.

2.         To find your mobile phone IMEI number, simply dial the sequence *#06# into the phone. The unique 15 digit IMEI code of your cell phone will be instantly displayed. Copy it and keep it in a safe place so that you can find it when your phone is misplaced or stolen. You can also find the IMEI number by checking the compliance plate under the battery.
            Then register it (free) at www.immobilise.com

Apart from enabling police officers to check immediately if a phone has been stolen, registration is useful in other ways.  If your mobile phone gets misplaced, lost, or stolen, you can inform the network provider who can then put the IMEI number for the phone on a shared database. This list stops this particular phone from registering on any network and will be useless for anyone even if the mobile phone’s SIM card is changed.

3.         As part of an anti burglary drive, Lambeth Police will soon be distributing ultra violet pens to every household in the Borough.  These will enable you to mark indelibly attractive items such as cameras, TVs, laptops etc with your house number and postcode.  All patrol officers will be equipped with key-fob u/v detectors so that they can check the ‘home location’ of such items on the spot when they come across them in the course of car searches, personal stop and searches, residential property searches etc.

These initiatives in Lambeth stem in part from constructive discussions Trisha and I, together with a colleague from the south of the Borough, had with senior Lambeth Police officers earlier this year.

David Tomlinson

30 September 2011