3:59pm Thursday 1st December 2005
By Lawrence Marzouk
Bluetooth mobile phone technology is being used to steal satellite navigation devices, personal digital assistants, laptops and other mobile phones from cars, police believe, in a surge in crime which has seen Barnet record the second-highest number of thefts from vehicles in any London borough.
The wireless technology is quickly replacing the crowbar as the most effective means to find out what is in someone's glove box or car boot, as it identifies other devices that are connected to the Bluetooth network within a ten-metre radius.
This means that thieves can simply stroll down a street picking up the presence of expensive electronic equipment on their mobile phones, and then break into the car.
The increasing popularity of satellite navigation devices has fuelled rising car crime levels in the borough, according to Inspector Kevin Straughan, of Barnet police, with Edgware featuring as one of the main crime areas.
Insp Straughan, of Barnet police, said he had held a series of meetings this week regarding car crime, during which the Bluetooth problem was raised several times. And although police have yet to catch anybody using it, they believe the technology is being harnessed for crime.
"We all dash around, and we do not get around to thinking about switching it off. If you do not take a PDA personal digital assistant with you, then do not have it turned on," he said.
Peter Holland, portfolio manager at the electronics and telecoms programme centre at Oxford University, said: "Detection is possible if the phone in the car is switched on and the Bluetooth setting is set to discoverable'. You then set your phone to discoverable' and when you are within a few metres of the car your phone lights up saying it has found another Bluetooth device. So the only time this theft is likely to be a problem is for people who leave their phones switched on with the device set to discoverable' as well. In theory this could happen to any Bluetooth capable device which has these settings."
Barnet Council and police are launching a campaign today to stem the rise in car crime. Large warning signs will be erected on 20 lampposts in New Brent Street, Hendon, which, along with surrounding roads, is one of the borough's car crime areas.
Increased high-visibility and plain-clothes patrols will also take place over the Christmas and New Year period, and the scheme will then move to another high car-crime area.
In the 12 months to October, there were 6,302 motor vehicle crimes in Barnet an increase of 23.7 per cent on the previous year and the second highest rate in London.
Council leader Brian Salinger, chairman of the Barnet Safer Communities Partnership, hopes the initiative will help deal with the problem.
"Hopefully motorists will heed this advice and opportunist criminals will be deterred by our increased presence in the borough's car-crime hotspots. This operation shows once again that the council is committed to working with all its partners to combat crime."
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