Former Cop: Smartphone Owners Should Use Headsets

With a rash of cell phone thefts in the Harlem-Morningside Heights-Columbia University area, some wary residents are admitting that maybe walking and talking on the cell phones isn't the greatest idea. One pointed out that the increasingly-popular smartphones cost $300-600 a pop and told WCBS 2, "Sometimes somebody could come and grab your phone or take anything from you, because you’re not paying attention to what’s going on." And a former cop-turned-self-defense expert suggests smartphone owners get hands-free headsets.

Frank Drake said, "A cell phone is a device which causes you to split your concentration," and people should just stay off the phone if they are walking around. But, "If you really have to be walking and talking you should be using a hands-free to at least free up your hands so you can look around and see where you’re going," and then you can keep your phone hidden.

In addition to the cell phone snatchings mentioned yesterday—which were on West 110th and Broadway, West 110th and Morningside Drive, and West 113th, Columbia University also sent an alert to students about a cell phone robbery right near a dorm: "On September 29, 2010, at about 9:12 p.m. a student was the victim of a cell phone snatch on W. 116 St. at the Wien Gate. The student was followed by two males... who accosted her from behind, and grabbed her cell phone as she was entering the Wien Gate. The victim struggled with one of the suspects and fell to the ground. The suspects fled towards Morningside Drive, and then into Morningside Park."

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By Jen Chung in News on November 11, 2010 10:28 AM

Comments [rss]

random transplant

So why don't we all burn our property and go live in the subways? There will be zero theft if there's nothing to steal. There are a BILLION cellphones being used in the world - its not exactly an exotic security threat.

This is every bit as offensive as when it was suggested to Ft Greener's that they should stop listening to headphones on the way down Dekalb Ave.

Hire more middle school hall monitors as cops. They're out there protecting electronics from theft every day - and you apparently don't have to motivate them with quotas.

unretrofiedforu

Really? Welcome to NYC. People do shit like that here.

random transplant

People do shit like that everywhere (like all those places with higher crime rates), the only difference is they don't wear their collective victim-hood as a badge of honor.

unretrofiedforu

Who would ever consider 'getting robbed' as a badge of honor?

Subduction

Considering my headset cost $130, this is not a step in the right direction.

mcaliban

Why can't they have some young undercover cops running around near Columbia with cellphones?

Aleksey

No I think another option is hide in the basement all your life. Fuck that.

How about we just lynch mob anybody that steals shit from people walking around and cut their hands off? I will bet you the crime rate will drop REALLY fast.

irritant

Another option, of course, is for the potential victims to make use of their Second Amendment rights and carry their own weaponry.

Oh wait. NYC still hasn't ack'ed the SCOTUS decision ("Heller") affirming that choice.

handsomedevil

Oh sure, you could shoot at the kid while he runs away with your $500 gadget. Anybody else you hit is probably insured, right?

You wacky conservatives with your "common sense."