Make mobiles compulsory and cut crime

CARRYING a mobile phone could be made compulsory to cut crime, a senior judge predicted yesterday.

Sir Geoffrey Vos said a law which forced people to carry a mobile phone that was permanently switched on would make it easier to track and catch criminals.

He said that since Britons have accepted growing levels of surveillance, a compulsory mobile phone law may not seem a radical idea in ten years. The suggestion from Sir Geoffrey, Chancellor of the High Court, echoes George Orwell’s novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, in which everyone is closely monitored by the state.

The judge said most of us already share our location using smartphones and that surveillance by using mobiles could play a major role in tackling crime.

In a lecture to the Law Society, Sir Geoffrey said: ‘We live in a world of increasing surveillance. We can and do photograph, film and record everything that happens to us.

‘Most people carry their smartphones at all times with their GPS location switched on. They do this voluntarily, but if the legislators were, for example, to require citizens to carry phones at all times, it would be even more difficult to avoid detection.

‘As society seems to accept more and more surveillance, I wonder how radical the change I have mentioned will seem in ten, 15 or 20 years’ time.’

The idea comes as judges are pushing through a £1billion scheme to shift large numbers of legal hearings from courts to online and video procedures.