iPods Blamed For Rising Crime/Will Apple Respond?
09.28.07 - 10:55am
Researchers in Washington have done a study on the rise of crime in recent years and have linked the high rise in robberies to the iPod, calling it the “iCrimewave”.
In the study the researchers, John Roman and Aaron Chalfin, found direct correlations to iPod’s being “criminogenic”, (creating crime) by tracking the crime statistics. In New York City subway crime statistics show that the felony rate drops from an 18 percent increase to a 3 percent decline if your remove the iPod thefts. In the case of youths, who are especially attracted to the iPod, robberies rose 3.9 percent in 2005 and 6.8 percent in 2006. The results were in direct contradiction with the range of overall thefts which declined by 6 percent and auto theft which fell by 5 percent in the same two year span.
“At the same time the violent crime rates began to rise, America’s streets filled with millions of people visibly wearing, and being distracted by, expensive electronic gear,” the report says. ”Thus there was a marked increase in both the supply of potential victims and opportunities for would-be offenders.”
The iPod has become a social status symbol, so much so that people are willing to kill for it, and news filters down everyday of robberies and deaths over an iPod. Ipods are particularly attractive to robbers due to their high value, and because after it is stolen there is no code formulated in the iPod where the owner can call and have it shut down. Also the iPod can distract the user who can become “tuned in” to the music and lose track of the surroundings giving criminals easy access to “jump” them with a knife, gun or just grab and run.
Just to name a few of the iPod related crimes; Just two days ago a mother was arrested for stabbing her son’s ex-friend who stole his iPod. Reportedly she broke his glasses and stabbed him with the shards. In Kirkland, Washington last month a 48-year old man was stabbed in his back by a 17-year old boy almost killing him while attempting to steal his 2GB iPod nano. Also in Seattle in March thugs robbed two kids in a mall full of people at knife point for their iPods. A teacher was beaten and had his neck broken in January in Philadelphia, when he confiscated a teens iPod.
In response to the iCrimewave, users can see warning signs everywhere, such as the one in the New York Subway which says, ”Earphones are a giveaway. Protect your device”, but the signs do little to slow the iCrimewave and with the release of the new iTouch it may increase.
In the beginning of the iCrimewave in 2005 a 15-year-old boy named Christopher Rose was killed in Brooklyn during a fight over an iPod. Steve Jobs called his father personally with condolences. I doubt he calls the families of those who have died or been badly beaten over an iPod anymore.
Just last month Dateline did an expose on the theft of iPods in which they videotaped iPods being stolen but had placed embedded information on the device so when the iPod was connected to a central data base the serial number would be detected and it would be marked as stolen. Dateline used it to track down the thieves. While Apple refused to take part in the story the question Dateline posed was, why with the huge amount of iPod crime, hasn’t code been put in the iPods to make the iPods turn to junk when stolen? Simply put there would be no iCrimewave if Apple were to put in such a code .
Detective Richard Kenney of the NYPD was asked by Chris Hansen during the Dateline show, “If the public knew there was a way to track these things down, what do you think would happen to the incidence of iPod theft? Kenney answered,”The people who are actually committing the crimes and stealing them would stop doing that because they won’t have anyone to sell them to.”
Although Apple did not speak with Dateline, the news show did find that Apple had filed for a patent in which the iPod or iPhone would no longer recharge when hooked up to iTunes if the user couldn’t prove it was theirs. In the patent Apple confirmed that there was a “serious problem” with iPod theft, iPod theft related injuries and even murders. How long till Apple follows through on the patent may in part depend on the voice of the consumers demanding it.
Question: Would you get on a New York City Subway with your iPod?
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