HispanicBusiness

The French Quarter Festival gets underway starting Thursday. As preps are being made for the four day music festival, New Orleans Police are sending a warning to participants to keep an eye on their smart phones.

8th District detectives are investigating several recent cases of iPhone thefts in the French Quarter.

They want to put the word out in advance to help prevent additional cases of iPhone thefts.

The warning comes on the heels of this week's announcement that the country's largest cell phone carriers will soon create a database to prevent stolen phones from being activated.

People we talked to in the French Quarter think its a good way to reduce iPhone thefts.

"I think once you grab a phone and it ain't worth nothing, I think people probably quit doing it," Bryan Pasewalk said.

"Anything we can do to dissuade people from stealing that's a wonderful idea," Kym Vancouver said.

With in six months individual cell phone carriers will have the ability to lock down stolen phones.

The national data base will be available with 18 months.

The FCC will make sure cell phone carriers execute the plan.