Op Calibre: GMP Operation launched in Manchester City Centre to reunite lost and stolen mobile phones

As part of Op Calibre, the national week of action to intensify efforts to tackle personal robbery, officers want to show the public what they are doing to tackle robbery and theft from person offences across Greater Manchester.

The city centre is a hotspot for personal robberies and thefts, particularly due to the night time economy as the city centre hosts a variety of pubs, clubs and bars which are open throughout the night and into the early hours of the morning.

Operation Reunite has been be relaunched in the city centre and has now been running for just over a month, and within this time, five mobile phones have been reunited with their rightful owners, but there are many more that officers are working hard to locate but the process of reuniting them can be made quicker by the public registering their mobile phones so they can be correctly matched to their rightful owners.

Detective Superintendent Dave Meeney, of GMP’s City of Manchester district and also force lead for robbery, said: “We want to equip members of the public with crime prevention advice to make it easy for you to make it hard for opportunistic thieves but when enjoying the night life in Manchester City Centre, mobile phones can be lost within bars and venues and we have been working hard with our partners and also staff working in these venues to create a system whereby lost mobile phones are collected and brought by staff to the local police station for officers to look at the IMEI number of the phone and reunite them with their owners before they are reported as stolen.

“We encourage people to register their mobile phone on the Police National Mobile Property Register, this will make it easier for officers to match the owner to the mobile phone so it can be reunited as quick as possible.

"At this time of year the city centre will remain busy, especially over the coming weeks and we want people to enjoy the festive period, so there will be an increase of highly visible patrols throughout the Christmas period to keep people safe.

"There will be an increase of highly visible patrols in the city centre, if you have any concerns about crime come and speak to officers or alternatively report through 101 or via LiveChat on gmp.police.uk. Always call 999 in an emergency."

To register your mobile: The Police National Mobile Property Register - NMPR (thenmpr.com). 

Alternatively, you can register your belongings or valuables on Immobilise.com, this is free to do, and will improve your chances of getting it back in the event it is lost or stolen. 

For more neighbourhood crime prevention advice from GMP, please visit: Crime prevention advice | Greater Manchester Police (gmp.police.uk)