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Violent iPhone Theft Isn't Really A Concern For Billionaire Bloomberg


By

Garth Johnston

Published May 4, 2012

Modified May 4, 2012


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"Someone stole your iPhone? Doesn't everyone just keep a spare in their spare limo?"

 

nycmayorsoffice's flickr


By

Garth Johnston

Published May 4, 2012

Modified May 4, 2012


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iPhone-related thefts are up 44 percent this year, but that doesn't really seem to bother Mayor Bloomberg. At his budget announcement yesterday Hizzoner was asked about the spike in crime and replied nonchalantly that, "If the worst problem we have is iPhone stealing..." Then he turned to the police commissioner added, "Ray, you’d better get on this iPhone right away. This is serious!" Somehow we suspect the parents of the chef killed for his iPhone, or the teen stabbed in the face for his, or the 81-year-old pushed in the subway tracks for his, wouldn't appreciate the mayor's tone.

And yet Bloomberg kept at it, pretty much blaming the victims: "We do live in a world where people carry around, treat cavalierly, pieces of technology that’s useful to somebody if they steal them," the iPad-loving mayor went on. "And they’re easy to steal." At the same time, victims' alleged carelessness doesn't make the theft any less serious—it's still grand larceny!

What was especially odd about the mayor's comments is the fact that the NYPD is ramping up efforts to prevent iTheft by both training cops to use Apple's "Find My iPhone" feature and upping security underground, where many of the phones are stolen.

Tagged

apple

crime

iphone

iphone theft

itheft

mayor bloomberg

nypd

Ray Kelly

technology


Garth Johnston

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