
Apparently Apple releasing high-profile products consistently throughout the year creates headaches for the New York Police Department.
The NYPD revealed this week there were 11,447 recorded thefts of Apple products between Jan. 1 and Sept. 23 of 2012. This marks a 40 percent increase from last year, and represents 14.4 percent of all major crimes. The theft of Apple-related products rapid growth dwarfed the growth of other crimes including murder, rape and robbery, which increased four percent during the same period last year with 79,335 incidents.
"The increase in incidents involving the theft of Apple products exceeded the increase in overall crime incidents of crime by 265," an NYPD spokesman said. "As if to mirror the market place, thefts of Apple products increased this year as the theft of electronics by other manufacturers decreased."
To combat that rise of Apple-related thefts the NYPD has instituted an “Anti-Apple Picking Campaign” to coincide with the launch of the iPhone 5. As part of the campaign iPhone users can register their new phones with the NYPD’s free devices registering service Operation ID. The Operation ID program's aim is to help retrieve electronic items by registering a product's serial number and the owner’s corresponding personal information.
While the NYPD is taking steps to actively curb the increase in Apple thefts the policies will likely make little difference. More iDevices will be flooding the market this holiday season than ever before. And if Apple releases the iPad mini the streets will turn into an iDevice free-for-all.
Or maybe not.
Source: PC Mag [via AppleInsider]
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