Thousands of laptops and mobile phone devices have been lost by officers and staff of the Metropolitan Police, since 2010.
Some 24 laptops, 251 personal digital assistants (PDAs) and 172 BlackBerry handsets were mislaid by employees of the Met Police in nearly five years from 2010.
The statistics, revealed following a freedom of information request, also showed that 21 BlackBerrys, nine PDAs and six laptops were reported stolen.
Over the same period 713 standard mobile phones were lost or stolen. At least 201 were lost, but the figures were only separated between losses and thefts for 2013 and 2014.
It means that more than 1,000 electronic gadgets belonging to the force have been lost or stolen between 2010 and September last year.
The data also shows that in the first nine months of 2014 a total of 301 police radios were recorded as being unaccounted for. T his number includes devices that cannot be located during audits and the Met Police said that many are later found.
No desktop computers or tablet devices were lost or stolen during the period.
Parliament Street’s very own Clare George-Hilley, Head of Research, who obtained the figures said: “The loss and theft of critical equipment not only costs a significant amount of money, but it potentially puts the organisation at risk of a security breach.
“Taxpayers need to be confident that expensive devices are managed securely and kept out of reach of criminals, with officers trained to reduce and prevent these incidents from occurring in the first place.”
