Sen. Charles Schumer and Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly have persuaded the feds and phone carriers to crack down on cell phone theft, the fastest-growing crime in New York City.

Schumer and Kelly will join other officials Tuesday to announce the creation of a landmark database of every cell phone’s unique ID number — making it easy to deactivate and render useless any purloined phone.

“Our goal is to make a stolen cell phone as worthless as an empty wallet,” Schumer said.

“With the press of a button, carriers will be able to disable phones and turn highly prized stolen property into worthless chunks of plastic,” Kelly added. “Like draining the swamp to fight malaria, we’re trying to dry up the market to fight iPhone thefts.”

Schumer will also introduce legislation making it a federal crime to tamper with or alter a cell phone’s International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number in order to activate a stolen phone.

The new procedures, agreed to by the Federal Communications Commission and the industry, will make it virtually impossible for stolen phones to be resold on the black market, a huge criminal industry in urban areas.

(Source: NY Daily News)