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Vancouver Police are appealing for witnesses after a man attempted to rob a woman of her cell phone outside a SkyTrain Station on June 5th.

Shortly after 5 p.m. on June 5th, a 28 year old Vancouver woman had walked away from the 29th Avenue SkyTrain station and was standing on a pathway behind the station when she was approached by an unknown man. The man suddenly sprayed the woman in the face with pepper spray and tried to grab the iPhone she was holding. The woman fought him off and was able to keep hold of her phone.

The man ran away and was last seen at Vanness Avenue and Todd Street getting into a vehicle described as a silver or grey 2000 Toyota 4-Runner.

He is described as Asian, 5’9″ tall with dark strands of hair hanging down the right side of his face. He was wearing an oversized black hoody and a red bandana around his neck.

The victim was not injured in the attack.

Police are appealing for anyone with information to call the Vancouver Police General Investigation Unit at (604) 717-9049 or Crime Stoppers at 1 (800) 222-8477.

The Vancouver Police Department would like to remind residents to be alert and report any suspicious persons or activity to police.

Safety Tips

  • be aware of your surroundings at all times
  • travel along well-lit streets
  • know where you’re going and walk with a sense of purpose with your head up high
  • keep your purse and belongings close to your body so they aren’t easily grabbed

Leglislation to Ban the Reactivation of Stolen Cell Phones
Cell phone theft may seem trivial at first but the potential consequences of this type of crime exceed just the material loss of the phone. There is the emotional and sometimes physical trauma that can severely impact the victims of these robberies, robberies that often involve violence.

It should come as no surprise that the theft of cell phones is a growing phenomenon across Canada as more and more people, young and old, have phones and use them as part of their daily lives. Cell phones have become as common in people’s pockets and purses as a wallet or keys.

In Washington, D.C., there was a 54% increase in cell phone-related robberies from 2007 to 2011.

The New York Police Department reported that in 2011, 42-per cent of all property crimes where someone was a victim involved a cell phone.

In downtown Montreal, there were 243 cell phone-related robberies in 2011, up from 142 in 2010 – a 71% increase.

In Vancouver, we saw 195 cell phone robberies in 2011, a 37% increase from 2010, and in all cases some form of violence was used to steal the phone.

As of the end of May this year, Vancouver had seen an 11% decrease in the number of robberies in which cell phones were stolen from 73 down to 65, a difference of only 8.

This begs the question…how do you stop or prevent cell phone thefts?

If there was no reason to steal a cell phone, then we and other police departments and agencies around the world, believe that it would significantly reduce the demand for stolen phones.

Now, you may ask yourself, “How could there be no reason to steal a phone?” Phones are stolen primarily for one reason – so they can be re-activated in the hands of someone new.

There is currently no legislation in Canada directed towards banning the reactivation of stolen cell phones. Legislation banning the reactivation of stolen phones has been successfully implemented in numerous jurisdictions, including the United States and United Kingdom.

That’s why the Vancouver Police, other police departments across Canada, and policing organizations like the Canadian Association of Police Boards and Major Cities Chiefs’ Association are passing resolutions calling on governments to create legislation to specifically address banning the reactivation of stolen cell phones, just as the Vancouver Police Board did at its latest meeting on July 18th.

This legislation would require a telecommunications provider to disable the phones International Mobile Equipment Identity, its IMEI number, a number that is completely unique to each phone. The IMEI is the phone’s fingerprint.

Currently in Canada, if a phone is stolen the SIM card can be removed and a new one put in and the phone reactivated.

If the IMEI number was disabled this could not happen.

By disabling the ability to reactivate the stolen phone, it becomes virtually worthless in the hands of a thief, so there would be no reason to even steal it.

In the meantime, we want everyone to record their IMEI numbers so that if something does happen to the phone, people can provide the IMEI number to the police.

That way, if we do locate a phone and we believe it may be stolen, we could check our databases and hopefully return it to its rightful owner.