Register cellphones, not guns ...

Interesting idea – I wonder if we could extend it to other items, such as, for example, guns… .  On second thought, a nation gun registry is far less important than a nation cellphone registry – let’s focus on what really matters… .

Do we register this? Or is it a
prohibited cellphone?

Story here:

A local MP and police in northwest Toronto are calling for a national stolen cellphone registry to stop an epidemic of thefts in their area and across the city.

Mike Sullivan, MP for York South-Weston, says the CRTC must act quickly to create a registry of identification numbers from stolen cellphones and ask providers not to reactivate phones on that list.

At least 15 students at Chaminade College School, a Catholic boys’ high school near Black Creek Dr. and Lawrence Ave. W. in Sullivan’s riding, have been mugged for their cellphones, some of them beaten, since the beginning of the school year.

“We shouldn’t have this fear and intimidation, which is rampant at this school and in 12 Division,” said Sullivan.

Police say cellphone theft is not restricted to the school. A woman walking down Jane St. recently had her phone grabbed from her hand as she spoke on it. And three weeks ago, a man in a car accident on Trethewey Dr. had his phone stolen by a passerby who offered to use it and call 911.

“Eighty-five per cent of street robberies (in 12 Division) are cellphones or other electronics,” said Staff Sgt. Daryle Gerry. “We as a police service think this is a good bill to put forward.”

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission, along with major wireless carriers AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile, announced in April they would create a national database of identification numbers that are unique to each phone.

Cellular carriers will use the list to permanently disable stolen phones. Until now, U.S. carriers have only been disabling SIM cards, which can be swapped in and out of phones to turn them on for service.