Officer develops analysis tool to trace stolen games consoles

Police officers in Gloucestershire are using hi-tech analysis to track stolen games consoles. The serial numbers of stolen consoles are requested from Microsoft and Sony, which also provide data on internet usage, and officers can then investigate subscriber applications to identify where the devices had been connected to the internet.

The initiative was initially developed last summer by Sergeant Tim Hutchinson of Gloucestershire Constabulary’s Cheltenham neighbourhood policing team.

“The scheme has been a great success since it began,” said Sgt Hutchinson. “In some cases when we go to an address or location where the console has been flagged up, the owner is innocent and has no idea that it’s stolen, but the fact that we’ve located it helps us open up different lines of inquiries.”

Sgt Hutchinson, who himself owns a Microsoft Xbox gaming machine, developed the idea after an increase in thefts of games consoles was reported in Cheltenham. Following research, Sgt Hutchinson spoke to experts in the force authorities bureau and discussed his thoughts with them. After receiving force backing, he was able to develop a process to trace the devices.

The first application successfully revealed the location of a stolen games console, after which a warrant was executed and the device recovered. On this occasion, it had been purchased from a car boot sale and the inquiry dried up. However, the property was reunited with the victim.

Sgt Hutchinson has since developed and distributed to interested parties an analysis tool which automatically analyses the data returned from Microsoft and makes extracting the relevant data straightforward.

Through developing these processes, officers across the force are now aware of the potential investigative opportunities, evidenced by an increase in covert applications being submitted to the force authorities bureau.

“It goes beyond just recovering games consoles; we start to think about other things like laptop computers, mobile phones and other technology. There is now increasing awareness in the force about other we can do.

“The problem is that we are reliant on the person who has the console logging onto the internet. If they don’t connect to the internet we’ll never know where it is.

“Although this [scheme] is not the answer to all our problems it certainly helps and is something that can be developed.”

Sgt Hutchinson said that even if the stolen console does not connect to the internet, officers can at least provide Microsoft and Sony with a user ID and request the serial number that can be put onto the force system.

“This could potentially help us in other inquiries,” added Sgt Hutchinson. “If we come across the console when we are doing a search in the normal course of business, we can check it against the serial number and if it matches one we have on our system, we know that it has been stolen,”

Sgt Hutchinson hopes that the benefits seen in Gloucestershire will encourage other forces to look at the scheme.

“It’s just a matter of being aware of it. I’ve seen the benefits it has made in my area. Having established a process, I’ve now made others aware of how to go about it. The awareness now is much greater and it is becoming a matter of routine when a games console gets stolen.”

Although the force has recovered only three consoles so far, Sgt Hutchinson said that as the scheme develops, more progress will be made and other lines of inquiries into additional crimes can be opened up.

He said: “For every one recovered there are two elements to it; it gives officers an opportunity to encourage further investigation and it’s also good for the victims as they get their property back. Even when they don’t get it back, the fact that they know we are investigating gives the victim comfort.

“The world has become very hi-tech and we can use this to our advantage. It started off as games consoles, but we are now thinking about utilising this kind of