Cell phone theft is reaching epidemic proportions in San Francisco, accounting for 50% of all crime reported in the city. Police data show that about 1,470 instances were reported last year alone.

Where's all the action taking place? We've heard too many stories about phone getting nabbed in the chaos of rowdy Muni buses and snatched from clueless folks waving their phones around on the street, but a new interactive map using police data from the last five months shows that phone and tablet robbery can happen in wide swathes of the city and in all sorts of circumstances.

The most heavily thieved areas flow up San Jose Avenue and Mission Street and form a heavy concentration up Market and in the Tenderloin. The Western Addition, Bayview, Chinatown and North Beach areas also make solid appearance.

According to the map, which is colorcoded by incident type (robbery with firearm of knife, robbery with gun, other), incidents included victims being pepper-sprayed, carjacked, assaulted, and threatened with handguns. Home invasions, pot deals gone bad, and phones left out on bars and in cars also figure into the data.

The majority of the victims are in their 20's, and if there's any discernible pattern to the thefts, it's that bus stops are bad news.

The map makes for fascinating, if scary reading. Zoom in on your neighborhood to see what's happening near you, but don't be surprised if it makes you extra paranoid.

[Marketplace]
[Examiner]