Over 300 mobiles stolen since 2019

OVER 300 mobile phones have been stolen in the Garden County in the last 20 months, according to figures released by the gardai.

The service released the data as part of a new campaign to encourage smartphone owners to take steps to protect their phone from theft.

A breakdown by garda division shows that 306 phones were stolen in Wicklow since the beginning of 2019, representing 3 per cent of all mobile phones stolen nationally.

The neighbouring garda division of Wexford recorded 146 phones stolen, while in Kilkenny/Carlow, the figure was 121 phones. Garda figures put the number of phones stolen in the Kildare division over the 20-month period at 398.

Meanwhile, a total of 7,375 phones were stolen across the six garda divisions that make up the Dublin Metropolitan Region with 2,868 of these recorded in the South Central area.

Nationally, gardai said 11,488 mobile phones have been stolen since the beginning of 2019 and of these, only 1,176 have been recovered.

Gardai are encouraging smartphone owners to download a trusted location finder app or to add an emergency contact to your phone, as these may improve the odds of a stolen phone being returned. They have also advised people to use as many of the phone’s security measures as possible, including activating a pin.