Hot Products

Hot products are those attractive to both consumers and criminals. Identifying possible hot products might be a factor in determining priorities in a Crime and Disorder Strategy. Several models have been designed for identifying such products:

• One model developed by Felson (1996) uses the characteristics of Value, Inertia, Visibility and Access (VIVA) to identify hot products.

• Clarke (Home Office 1999b) LINK uses the characteristics of Concealable, Removable, Available, Valuable, Enjoyable, and Disposable (CRAVED) to identify hot products.

The mobile phone

A good example of a hot product is the mobile phone. Expansion of the mobile phone market has been rapid. The targeting of mobile phones is already a factor in increasing rates of street robbery. As mobile phone handsets incorporate internet technology mobile phone crime is likely to continue and increase. The ‘no-contract’ mobile phones are particularly attractive to criminals because: they allow greater anonymity for callers; there are loopholes in the ‘pay as you go’ mobile phone schemes that enable knowledgeable users to switch to other networks and avoid payment; the vouchers used to pay for calls can also be targeted for theft; vouchers are easy to reproduce; and, criminals have reprogrammed ‘prepaid’ mobile phones to obtain free calls (reported in Association of British Insurers 2000: 14). LINK

Examples of future hot products include (Association of British Insurers 2000) LINK:

• The launch of Digital Television and the switch off of analogue transmissions may spark a crime epidemic in the rush to replace obsolete televisions. However, the offer of set-top boxes free of charge is likely to reduce their attractiveness to thieves.

Portable Digital Virtual Disc (DVD) players are now available weighing 900 grams and costing up to £1000.

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