iPhones & iPads Blamed for 2012 Rise in NYC Crime

New York City Mayor Bloomberg is blaming Apple products for singlehandedly skewing the city’s crime statistics.

The New York Times reports that the mayor, in his weekly radio show today, cited thefts of iPhone and iPads as the drivers of the 2012 increase in crime:

As of Monday, the Police Department recorded 3,484 more major crimes in 2012 than for the same period last year. The increase in Apple product thefts: 3,890.

The total numbers are 108,432 major crimes in 2012 over 104,948 in the same period of 2011.

Press secretary Marc La Vorgna made the direct connection:

If you just took away the jump in Apple, we’d be down for the year.

The mayor suggests putting your iPhone in a tight pocket of close-fitting clothes rather than a looser pocket of a jacket, for example.