This deadly obsession with cell phones has reached epidemic proportions

Dec 02, 2014 Letters

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DEAR EDITOR,
What is this affinity that the crooks in Guyana have with cell phones that they would go to any length to become the lawless owner(s)?  Each time I read about a Guyanese losing his/her life all because of a cell phone, my first reaction is to denounce that land as being my birthplace, and in an air of similar enigmatic insanity try to conjure up a rationale for such behaviour. It has reached epidemic proportions.
The most recent victim, Deon Adolph, a geologist employed at the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment, almost met his demise last Thursday, solely because he was the owner of a cellular phone. This latest attack has only proven that life in Guyana has no value.  Absolutely none whatsoever!
Almost every babe in America or Canada is the owner of a cellular phone and in the majority of cases the most modern ones with the latest features.
The C.I.D. ranks have yet to find and arrest the perpetrator/thief who deliberately ran over and killed 21-year-old Bank employee Sheema Mangar, after snatching her cell phone in 2010.
In July 2013, a hapless would-be fleeing thief ended up badly bruised and in handcuffs when he ran into the path of a taxi, shortly after snatching a nurse’s mobile phone on Mandela Avenue. The victim had just left the National Gymnasium with her boyfriend, following a hockey match, when the thief struck. He certainly made easy work for the police, although the BlackBerry was smashed to pieces. He only sustained minor injuries. Pity, I daresay.
Sadly the obsession also extends to those who have already merited the appellation criminal.
In September a prison brawl  at the Mazaruni Prison left Theon Smith dead , and another inmate  Akeem Edwards, who was serving a  15-year sentence for robbery under arms, possession of an illegal firearm, as well as break and entry, facing additional charges following a stabbing incident over a missing cell phone.  No digression intended, but why in the first place was a cell phone allowed within the prison walls. These are just a few of the voiceless victims, silenced forever.
Now the question that immediately surfaces is what can be done to curb this rising epidemic. In general, thieves will be more likely to steal a mobile phone if they think they can then sell it or derive some other kind of benefit from it (e.g. using it themselves).
It is very difficult to make phones harder to steal without compromising their basic design benefits, such as being relatively small and portable. Therefore, making mobile phones less attractive to thieves is primarily a matter of making them harder to use or sell after they have been stolen. As a consequence I am calling on the Guyana Government, lawmakers, and all wireless carriers – laws are needed to mandate that all wireless carriers participate in new database systems that make it difficult to re-subscribe stolen phones to cellular service. I am also pushing for a shutdown of third-party buyers and resellers of phones, which in part is attributable to the uptick in cell phone crime reports.
Let’s cut off all those who have even the slightest possibility of making money off the victims of street crimes. Guyana should take a page from the book of other countries that are in the process of establishing a central database, where consumers can report stolen phones to prevent them from being reactivated by any major cellular carrier.
Places in Guyana where phones are bought should immediately institute measures to prevent thieves from using their services.  There should be scans of valid identification such as driver’s licence, completed information sheet, as well as a picture being taken on site, not to mention holding the item to be sold (cell phone) for at least thirty days in case it has been reported stolen.
The chances of stealing a worthless phone are zero to none. Once the perpetrator knows that the phone is worthless, they’re not going to steal it. Crime can be dramatically reduced, and citizens protected, when products and services are designed to make crime harder to commit.
It is my fervent wish that the cell phone industry continues to use its inventiveness and skills to make their products even more secure. Mobiles are no longer just phones: they are becoming our wallets and gateways to many services. This is why it is ever more important that consumers are well-informed about the risks they face, and how best to keep themselves and their phones safe.  When brought before the justice system the perpetrators should receive sentences, the magnitude of which has never been seen, and which at the selfsame time would act as a strong effective deterrent to any other likely thieves, and avert recidivism.
Yvonne Sam

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