- Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley is urging home secretary Shabana Mahmood to mandate phone companies to render stolen devices unusable.
- The Met has begun sharing data with Apple to track stolen handsets, aiming to make it harder for criminals to reactivate and profit from them.
- Sir Mark previously issued an ultimatum to tech firms, stating that if they did not act, the government would be asked to intervene and legislate.
- Recent security enhancements, including Apple's 'stolen device protection', have already led to a significant reduction in the reactivation of stolen phones .
- London has seen an 18% decrease in phone thefts and robberies in the past year, with a 45.8% reduction in Westminster, a key area for such crimes.
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Met Police chief calls for tech companies to be forced to make stolen phones ‘unusable bricks’
