Years From Now

Years from now, anthropologists and social historians will find this all a little odd:

It would be hard to conceive of a better criminal target than the iPod. Those white cords snaking down from listeners’ ears into the recesses of their jackets signify an instant status symbol, hundreds of dollars worth of merchandise and a mark who may be blissfully unaware of his or her surroundings.

. . .

But a recent spike in subway felonies, reported in The Daily News yesterday, has been driven by an increase in iPod thefts, the police said. As of Sunday, there had been 304 robberies in the transit system citywide this year, up 24 percent from the same period last year, the police said. Grand larcenies are up 10 percent, with 462 so far this year. Over all, transit crimes are up 16 percent.

It is impossible to say how many of those robberies were iPod thefts, but they were a major factor, the police said.

“IPods are definitely part of the newest items to be stolen and appear to be driving the recent spike in subway robberies,” said Paul J. Browne, the Police Department’s deputy commissioner for public information.

Rarely have the iPod thefts involved physical assault, he said, adding that the thieves and their victims tended to be teenagers. Late last year, Stuyvesant High School students were targets in a series of iPod muggings, one of which took place in the Chambers Street subway station near the school in Lower Manhattan.

Mr. Browne said the police have been sending teams consisting of a sergeant and eight officers into the subway this month, both in response to the increase in felonies and out of caution near the anniversary of the Madrid train bombing, on March 11.

The current rash of iPod thefts resembles that of 8 Ball Jackets a few years ago. They were singled out because they were an expensive status symbol. But the difference is that iPods are easier to conceal once they are stolen, and can be sold online easily and anonymously.

Despite the thefts, though, few subway riders seem to be changing their habits, and may be feeling even safer since the little white wires seem to be everywhere.

“It was a concern when I first got it,” said Adriana Arcia, 29, a publicist for Major League Baseball, whose iPod contains around 3,700 songs. “But I live in Williamsburg, and on the L train everybody has one.”