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City's Massive Stolen Phone Black Market Must Be Stopped, Rahm Says

By Heather Cherone | July 26, 2017 8:11am | Updated on July 27, 2017 11:38am
 In 2016, 14,493 cellphones were reported lost or stolen in Chicago, officials said.
In 2016, 14,493 cellphones were reported lost or stolen in Chicago, officials said.
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CITY HALL — Mayor Rahm Emanuel said Wednesday he plans to take aim at the lucrative black market in stolen cellphones.

Emanuel, along with 14th Ward Ald. Ed Burke, chairman of the City Council's Finance Committee, planned to introduce a measure that would require retailers of used phones to consult a database of mobile devices before completing a sale, officials said.

Secondhand cellphone sellers who fail to follow the new regulations could find themselves without a license to do business. City officials also could confiscate the phones, officials said.

In 2016, 14,493 cellphones were reported lost or stolen in Chicago, officials said.

Federal officials estimate that 1 in 3 robberies involve the theft of a mobile device, and the cost to U.S. consumers is in the tens of billions of dollars, officials said.

This is not the first time the Council has tried to crack down on cellphone thefts.

In 2014, Burke authored a measure that required all smartphones sold in Chicago have a kill switch, which would enable users to deactivate the phones if lost or stolen. The move was spurred by the 2011 death of a 68-year-old woman who was pushed down the stairs at the Fullerton Avenue CTA stop during a smartphone theft. The thief received a 32-year prison sentence.

The issue hits close to home for Emanuel, whose then 17-year-old son, Zach Emanuel, was on his cellphone with his college counselor when he was approached from behind, assaulted and robbed of his phone just after 10 p.m. on Dec. 19, 2014, his father said.

"We want to remove the profit motive," Emanuel said Wednesday, acknowledging the issue had impacted his family and had the potential to threaten the lives of victims.

But for "the grace of God," Emanuel said his family was spared, and he said the law needed to be changed to protect other families.