City Room: Crime Is Up, and Bloomberg Blames iPhone Thieves

Jeff Chiu/Associated Press

Updated, 11:50 a.m. | Hold onto your iPhones!

Major crime in New York City inched up this year, and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg on Friday fingered the culprit: too many iPhones and iPads were being swiped.

A rise in thefts of shiny Apple products accounted for the slight increase in the city’s annual crime index, a statistic that covers a number of felonies, including murder, grand larceny and robbery, Mr. Bloomberg said on Friday morning during his weekly radio show.

As of Monday, the Police Department recorded 3,484 more major crimes in 2012 than for the same period last year. The increase in Apple product thefts: 3,890.

In a more serious vein, Mr. Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly also announced that as of Friday morning, New York City had recorded 414 homicides, putting it on pace to record the lowest annual number since the city started tracking comparable homicide figures in 1963. The current low, 471 homicides, was set in 2009.

Still, city officials said the overall crime figure was skewed by the Apple figure.

“If you just took away the jump in Apple, we’d be down for the year,” said Marc La Vorgna, the mayor’s press secretary.

On the radio, Mr. Bloomberg said that Apple products appeared to be the preference for many thieves, noting that he was not including thefts of competing devices, like the Samsung Galaxy, in his count.

And he offered some practical advice for listeners, urging them to keep their devices in an interior, hard-to-reach pocket.

“Put it in a pocket in sort of a more body-fitting, tighter clothes, that you can feel if it was — if somebody put their hand in your pocket, not just an outside coat pocket,” the mayor said.

IPhones have long proved irresistible to city thieves, particularly on the subway, where crime rates shot up in 2011 after police investigators discovered that robbers were targeting the expensive, high-tech gadgets. The Police Department has used dozens of decoy officers and unusual methods to try to stanch the thefts, which usually occurred as trains entered and left stations, allowing for a quick getaway.

“The proliferation of people carrying expensive devices around is so great,” Mr. La Vorgna said. “It’s something that’s never had to be dealt with before.”

Through Monday, the city had recorded 108,432 major crimes for the year, up from 104,948 over the same period in 2011, a rise of 3.3 percent.

Toni Braxton Blames Oprah Winfrey for Failed Career

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Although Toni Braxton has sold over 60 millions records worldwide, the six-time Grammy winner hasn’t had the best luck with her finances. In 1998 and 2010, she filed for bankruptcy due to her unpaid financial obligations totaling between $10 million and $50 million.

The 45-year-old vocalist is the next artist to be featured on VH1's “Behind the Music” which airs on Monday October 29th. And she’s throwing shade and shaking the tables on Mama Winfrey. Toni Braxton claims that her career was damaged after her 1998 appearance on “The Oprah Winfrey Show.”

“She was so freakin’ mean to me,” Braxton says. “I was in shock!”

“She says to me, ‘I heard you have Gucci flatware,’” recalled Braxton. “I’m Oprah Winfrey and even I don’t have Gucci flatware. You don’t have Gucci flatware because you didn’t want to buy it, not because you couldn’t afford it! What do you mean?”

#TeamOprah hasn’t, and probably won’t, respond to Toni’s comments. Most financial woos stem from overzealous spending habits (insert Gucci flatware) so I think it’s little unfair to blame the TV titan for her mishaps. But I’m sure it was hard for Toni to keep up her fabulous lifestyle and support her family as R&B music died right before her eyes.

Check out a sneak peek of the special below. I will be tuned in, will you?

Watch a Teaser of Toni Braxton's "Behind the Music" Special