Apollo Launch Fires Up Police Handheld Era

New scanner being used to tackle mobile phone theft

Police in Ealing have gone mobile to tackle thieves handling stolen goods with their new, state of the art gadget called Apollo.

The Borough Intelligence Unit carried out several operations using a new scanner device which detects stolen mobile phones and any other objects registered on National Property Register website Immobilise.com.

The scanner reads the barcode of the mobile phone and by tapping into the National Mobile Phone Register the device can tell officers immediately if the phone is reported as lost or stolen.

Operations undertaken in various places in the Ealing Borough saw over 490 mobile phones and other electronic devices checked. Several items were suspected of being stolen and officers made four arrests.

Ealing Borough Detective Constable Scott Pavitt said: “The main aim of the initiative was to proactively identify and locate offenders, recover stolen property as well as offer reassurance and crime prevention advice to the members of the public. We are delighted with the effectiveness of this equipment and its ability to quickly identify stolen property giving us a chance to recover missing items. Apollo can no doubt play an important role in targeting and reducing the levels of crime also giving the members of the public a peace of mind and a knowledge that Police will be able to identify and recover their stolen property faster."

DC Pavitt added: "The deployment of this equipment was a great success. It is reassuring that the thieves now know we have technology to on-the-spot identify stolen property so they might think twice before reaching for something which is not theirs. Apollo has proven to be yet another tool we can use

to reduce theft across the Borough, with its benefits already being visible."

Police in the Ealing are encouraging everyone to register with the secure National Property Register Immobilise.com website and record all of their identifiable items. This will help the police to identify and return them should they became lost or stolen.

Anyone with information about theft in Ealing can contact police on 0300 123 1212 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

July 6, 2009