For police, cell phone thefts are a trivial matter

Whenever a person goes to lodge a complaint about a missing mobile or theft, the police officers concerned use their discretion in registering a case, notwithstanding the complainant’s version

There is no dearth of initiatives to make policing people friendly in the State but surely police are not so friendly in registering cases of mobile phone theft complaints or misplacements in the city.

When a citizen goes to a police station in the capital - be it Hyderabad or Cyberabad - to complain about theft or missing of a mobile phone, there is no uniform system of response and it is left to the police officers concerned to use their discretion in registering a case, notwithstanding the complainant’s version.

In most complaints, no First Information Report (FIR) is issued though a case has to be registered if a phone is stolen. “No one is ready at the police station to listen to us. They simply direct us to give a complaint stating it was misplaced though we firmly believe it was stolen,” says Srinivas Raju of Alwal, recalling his bitter experience.

Giridhar Reddy of Uppal, a teacher by profession, lost his mobile phone at a bank. He rushed to the bank within five minutes of realising it and called up his number from another person’s phone. By then, it was switched off, apparently by the person who took it away.

“But the police say it was not theft but misplacement -- not paying heed to my version of events,” the teacher complains. Field level police officers too concede they are not registering cases in every case of mobile phone theft or misplacement petitions.

“Top officials are not ready to accept any spurt in thefts compared to previous year. Naturally, we don’t register cases. It is better to be in the good books of officers,” remarked a police inspector, unwilling to be quoted.

On an average, each police station gets at least one complaint of theft or misplacement of a mobile phone in a day. If the average cost of a smart mobile phone is Rs. 10,000, the value of stolen mobile phones in 62 police stations of city comes to Rs. 6.2 lakh. That would be roughly Rs. 1.8 crore a month.

Earlier, Hyderabad Central Crime Station (CCS) sleuths maintained diaries in each police station to enter details of the lost, misplaced and stolen phones.

They would send International Mobile Equipment Number of the mobile phone to all mobile phone service providers to alert them if any one used Subscriber Identity Module card in that phone. This way some mobile phones were tracked and could be restored to the original owners.

For some reasons, the system was done away with. Now, if a citizen wants an FIR issued for theft of his mobile phone, he or she has to convince the investigating officer, clearing all his doubts or ensure an influential person calls him.