A scheme to tackle the theft of mobile phones in the West Midlands has failed to prevent victims from becoming the target of street robberies.

Police say they continue to face problems with mobile phone theft, even though the handsets can be blocked electronically within minutes.

"Unfortunately, the message does not seem to be getting home to many youngsters and we are still seeing a lot of street robberies where mobile phones are the target," said Assistant Chief Constable Chris Sims.

All five major network providers - Orange, O2, T Mobile, Vodafone and Virgin - are involved in the national 'blocking' scheme which was launched in November 2002.

Effectively worthless

"We anticipated that the new blocking system would remove the incentive for mobile phones to be stolen, as they are incapable of being used - it is just like cancelling a stolen credit card," said ACC Sims.

"However, the message has clearly not reached some youngsters and they are putting themselves at risk of getting locked up and having a criminal record for stealing a mobile phone which is effectively worthless and useless."

West Midlands Police launched Operation Safer Streets 2 last April to crack down on robbery.

Offences have gone down by almost 23% from 10,311 to 7,978.

During the same period almost 3,500 people have been arrested in connection with street crime.