Mind the App: Thieves Target Phones
More New Yorkers are using smartphones and tablets on the subway–and more thieves are ripping them out of riders’ hands.
This year, there were 311 grand larcenies on the subway through the end of March, an 18 percent increase over the same period in 2010, according to police statistics.
That jump is largely driven by the increasing theft of smartphones, especially Apple’s iPhone 4, said Raymond Diaz, chief of the New York City Police Department’s transit bureau.