IMEIguard completes one year with over a thousand cell phones recovered by public safety

IMEIGuard, implemented a year ago in Pará, has already conducted 37,612 searches on IMEIs, recovering about 1,307 cell phones in Pará. The tool, an application exclusively for Public Safety, aims to expedite the inquiry about the status of a cell phone during police approaches, enhancing preventive security actions and curbing the practice of theft, robbery, and receiving stolen cell phones in the State.

The tool, launched at the first Parárraiá held in the capital of Pará in 2024, has been used strategically since then for the identification and recovery of stolen or robbed cell phones, as explained by the Acting Secretary of Public Safety, Col. Sergio Neves.

“This is yet another advanced technology tool we are using to assist in the actions carried out by our security. IMEIGuard is an application that reads the IMEIs of all cell phones to verify their origin and current status, such as the existence of any occurrence registered on the IMEI, and whether this cell phone is in the possession of its owner. In the case of the device being stolen, it immediately directs to the Civil Police system so that we can identify the real owner and return the equipment to the owner. This tool has been helping us, and with this, we have already presented this result where more than 37 thousand cell phones have been searched and over a thousand recovered through IMEIguard,” highlighted Col. Sérgio Neves.

Technology and database

The application, developed by the Undersecretariat of Intelligence and Criminal Analysis (Siac), linked to the Secretary of Public Safety and Social Defense (Segup), has as its main source of information the database of the Integrated Public Safety System (SISP), where police occurrence records are made, and also relies on data from cell phones registered in the Alerta Celular Pará System, making it possible to identify the registered owner.

Through the application, it is possible to identify if the device has restrictions for theft or robbery, if it has been lost, and other information that is updated regarding the identified device.

Approach and functionality

At the moment the security agent makes the approach and queries the data from the IMEI number of the device, if it is found that the cell phone has restrictions for theft or robbery, the holder of the device will be referred for clarification at the Civil Police Station, and subsequently, the owner of the cell phone who has the data registered in the system for the respective seized device will be notified to have their cell phone returned.

The Deputy Secretary of Intelligence and Criminal Analysis, André Costa, emphasizes that IMEIGuard is another important tool that Segup provides for security agents, which contributes to the agility of verifying the device.

“The application allows agents to verify crime-related objects, in this case, cell phones, of theft, robbery, or receiving stolen goods. This is an internally initiated tool by Segup that we managed to develop with our own agents, at no cost to the State. The tool searches for the IMEI or QRCode of the device in the Civil Police system, where records of theft and robbery crimes are made, whose object is the cell phone, which helps the police officer identify at the time of the approach whether the verified device is a crime object,” he explained.

Occurrence Report Registration

Segup reinforces the importance of registering the Occurrence Report in cases of theft, robbery, or loss of the cell phone, so that the data is updated in the SISP, thus facilitating recovery and return to the owner, with the SISP being the main database used by IMEIGuard.

The Occurrence Report can be registered at the nearest police station or through the Virtual Police Station. It is essential to inform the IMEI number. The cross-referencing of the information from the Occurrence Report and the Alerta Celular Pará allows for the location of the phone and identification of the real owner, and its subsequent return.

Identify the IMEI - To identify the IMEI, simply dial *#06# on the phone and note the number that appears on the screen. This numerical sequence is also printed on the cell phone box or in the settings.

Registration in the Alerta Celular Pará System

Segup also highlights the importance of Pará residents registering their cell phones on the “Alerta Celular Pará” website. This facilitates the identification of data during police actions, as well as the return to the legitimate owner.

The Alerta Celular allows the user to register the identifying codes of each device (IMEI), contact numbers, linking the device's IMEI to the owner's CPF. After registration, the data of your cell phone is recorded in the system, which can be cross-referenced with the SISP data. When a security agent approaches a person, they can check through ImeiGuard, on the spot, if the cell phone has been stolen and who its owner is.