Finally, A Reason to Feel Good About Being Glued to Your Phone


A new study out of UPenn claims that the decline in urban crime that began in the mid-90s is closely correlated to the rise in cell phone use. The theory is so dull and intuitive, it’s almost better to just credit Giuliani’s squeegee man crackdown for the drop.

“If someone has a cell phone, it potentially increases the cost – or the price of committing a crime for the criminal. Because the criminal is more likely to be caught if the potential victim is going to pull out a cellphone and call the police or calls the police while he or she is being assaulted.

Ohhhh, now I get it! Researchers are still studying whether a crack team of Baltimore Police Department misfits were able to significantly reduce the West Baltimore crime rate by wiretapping the cellphones of drug dealers. [Newsworks]