A brand new legislation would require firms to chop service to cell telephones as quickly as they’re reported stolen.
The legislation, which Gov. Kathy Hochul signed on Tuesday, goals to eradicate the inducement to steal cell telephones by shortly making them inoperable.
Mobile phone theft has turn out to be a supply of significant annoyance for many New Yorkers. In accordance with the language within the invoice, stolen telephones are sometimes not reported. Even when they’re, and when service is disabled, some can nonetheless be used internationally or by means of wifi connections, the invoice says.
“I am dedicated to utilizing each attainable device to maintain New Yorkers protected,” Hochul mentioned in an announcement.
Not one of the three main cell phone firms instantly responded to messages.
The invoice is called for Detective Brian Simonsen, who was killed in 2019 when NYPD officers shot and killed one in all their very own when responding to a cell phone store robbery. In accordance with court testimony, Simonsen, 42, was killed when police confronted Christopher Ransom in a T-Cell retailer with a faux gun. In a hail of greater than 40 bullets, Simonsen, Sergeant Matthew Gorman and Ransom had been hit.
“This legislation enacted within the reminiscence of Detective Brian Simonsen is the perfect memorial we might ever give to the Simonsen household and to all law enforcement officials,” NYPD detective union President Scott Munro mentioned.