Crime Reduction Partnerships
GSM Phone Bomb Project, Amsterdam-Amstelland Police
(Please note this page has been translated for Internet publication into English from Dutch.)
The number of cases of mugging in the Amsterdam-Amstelland police region rose at an alarming rate after October 2000. In January 2001, 453 muggings were reported against 242 in January 2000. In three-quarters of the cases, a GSM mobile phone was the target. The degree of violence used to obtain a mobile telephone became increasingly serious. As well as being threatened with a knife or firearm, victims were now sometimes actually being stabbed or subjected to other serious forms of violence. This did not only take place in the quiet back streets, but people were also being mugged in busy underground stations during the rush hour.
In an attempt to put a stop to these muggings, a solution was sought in the form of a project that would combine elements of surveillance, repression and prevention. Making the GSM an unattractive target became the principal aim.
It was essential to make potential victims aware of the heightened risk of theft when using a GSM in public places, and to make it clear to potential perpetrators that stealing a GSM was no longer worthwhile. Potential perpetrators (pupils) should also be made aware of the seriousness and criminal nature of the offence of mugging in order to discourage them from becoming accomplices, and all this within the short period after the launch of the project in March 2001.
Reported stolen
As soon as a GSM has been reported stolen, the GSM number (06-number in the Netherlands) is placed on the Internet by the police, after which the stolen telephone is continuously
bombarded with messages along the lines of ‘This GSM has been stolen. Buying or selling it would be a criminal act. Hand this GSM in to the police.’ The interval between the messages
was set at three minutes. This made normal use of the GSM impossible. Turning off a mobile phone that has been programmed with a PIN code blocks it automatically; the phone can
then no longer be used to make calls. The loot becomes useless.
Media attention
The Police Information Department supervised the launch of the GSM-bomb. A lot of media attention was paid to the objectives of the entire campaign. Leaflets containing a hidden
prize question were distributed at a large number of busy public transport junctions during the rush hour. Activities to raise awareness also took place in schools.
Results
Almost from the very first day, the number of reported muggings dropped by some ten per day. The number of muggings where a GSM was the target dropped from 75% to 30%. The number
of juvenile perpetrators before the commencement of the project had been 80%; in April 2001 this figure had dropped to less than 50%.
European Crime Prevention Award 2001 Jury Assessment
In recent years, mobile phones have become more and more prominent on the streets of the Netherlands, but they have also become an attractive target for thieves. This had to
stop, according to the Amsterdam inventors of the GSM-bomb project. The jury is very impressed with this original approach to the problem of muggings for mobile phones. It is a
project with clear objectives and results, as well as preventative and informative angles. Detection and prosecution have also not been forgotten. In view of the results in such
a short period, the GSM-bomb would appear to be an extremely original, effective and fairly simple way of making mobile phones less attractive as a target, not only in Amsterdam,
but also elsewhere.
Last update: 24 May 2005