Smartphone kill-switch plan lauded by victim's father

ST. LOUIS -- The father of a former Saint Louis University volleyball player killed for her cellphone says he is grateful that major makers have agreed to put so-called kill switches in new smartphones next year to deter thefts and robberies.

Megan Boken of Wheaton, Ill., was shot in St. Louis in 2012. She had graduated but was in town for a job interview and to play in a reunion game. Two men are now in prison for the crime.

Her father, Paul Boken, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch he and his family will continue to push lawmakers to require technology in smartphones that would make them useless to thieves.

The Federal Communications Commission says cellphones are taken in 30 to 40 percent of robberies in big American cities.

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Information from: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, http://www.stltoday.com