ST. LOUIS (AP) - St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay has signed a law seeking to make it harder to resell stolen cell phones, a growing problem in St. Louis and elsewhere.

Aldermen adopted the law late last month and the mayor announced the signing on Friday.

Crime rates in the city have been declining, but cell phone thefts have been on the rise. In August, former Saint Louis University volleyball player Megan Boken was killed while being victimized in a cell phone robbery.

The law will require secondhand dealers to record the phone’s identity number and collect other information from the seller, even the person’s thumbprints.

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