Stolen phones targeted by new mobile phone register
A new service launched by the National Mobile Phone Crime Unit (NMPCU) enables police officers on the street to check if a mobile phone in the possession of a suspect is stolen.
The National Mobile Phone Register, launched on January 12, combines details of phones recorded stolen by industry and the ten police forces of the Street Crime Initiative (SCI) with information from a database where the public can register their name and contact details against the details of their phone.
The public part of the register, the Mobile Equipment National Database (MEND), can also be used by recovery agencies such as police and major transport organisations to reunite owners with lost devices. If a registered phone is found on a suspect, the police will be able to contact the registered owner to check if it is stolen.
MEND already consists of a searchable index of some 13 million mobile phones, and both the NMPCU and the Home Office hope the index will grow as public awareness increases.
Industry input comes from the Central Equipment Identification Register (CEIR), a list of barred International Mobile Identity Equipment (IMEI) numbers set up in November 2002 to restrict the value of stolen handsets, and the Stolen Equipment National Database (SEND), a list of mobile phones reported to the police and insurance companies as stolen.
The ten SCI forces supply records of the IMEI number of handsets reported stolen, the force that recorded the crime and its crime reference number; no personal data is transmitted to the service by these forces.
All databases are searched concurrently via secure internet access, and control centre support staff will now be able to check details such as IMEI numbers using the same facility that they can check engine and chassis numbers of vehicles on the Police National Computer (PNC), although the service runs independently of the PNC.
The NMPCU is providing the main funding, and will be running the service in partnership with Recipero, a private company that developed the SEND and MEND databases. Police force control centres can set up their own access to the service via monthly subscription and are encouraged to set up a data feed that can add their own records to the service.
The NMPCU was established in December 2003, and is still the only national policing body specialising in stolen mobile phones within the international policing community. Det Supt Eddie Thomson of the Unit said the register had the potential to become an international system: “There are no language issues with IMEI numbers. We expect a European version of the CEIR to come into place in the very near future.”
The register has been successfully demonstrated across Europe, in the States and in Hong Kong and Singapore. Within the UK, the ten forces involved in the Street Crime initiative (Avon and Somerset, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Merseyside, the Met, Nottinghamshire, South Yorkshire, Thames Valley, West Midlands and West Yorkshire) have been using the pilot system for five months.
Senior and operational staff interested in finding out more details about getting access to the service should contact the NMPCU on 0208 246 0028. Officers and civilian staff who would like to register mobile equipment on MEND should visit www.menduk.org.
