There it is, that moment of panic when you can’t find your iPhone anywhere. But have you misplaced it? Did you forget it somewhere? Or has it been stolen from you?

Not all theft cases at Barnstable High School are in the form of cell phones, or music players. Some even include the stealing of backpacks, wallets, shoes, and clothing items. Barnstable Detective Reid Hall said, “We at Barnstable High school have our share of thefts, threats between students, minor accidents in the parking lot, threats on staff members, and of course assaults and altercations.”

In January, seven iPhones were reported stolen from the local YMCA locker room. The BHS swim teams’ practice arena is also a local gym and pool for people in the community. Although this happened off of school grounds because it involves students from BHS, Officer Hall is involved.

“Since it is off school grounds, the YMCA will have an off school patrol officer that I will work with in order to find our suspects. The incident didn’t happen on our property, but they are students of Barnstable and it is my job to talk to everyone,” Hall said.

Senior Jaycob Young was a victim in this case. “I went into the locker room after swim practice and came to find my phone was gone, I immediately got very mad and went to the front desk to report it missing and I found out a couple other teammates of mine got personal items stolen as well,” Young  said. “I went to the front desk and told them about the situation at hand and they called the police and went through their procedure, but I caught on quick that the so-called-procedure wasn’t going to do much,” said Young. Still no phones or suspects have been found on this case and unfortunately none of the students, Young included, had their iPhone returned to them.

In the student handbook on page 50 it states the rules and consequences of theft: the actions taken are restitution, one to five demerits, social restriction, two to 10 days in out of school suspension (OSS), or an expulsion hearing. The handbook also states on page 86 the use of electronics in BHS, which is that cell phones, MP3 players, PSPs, iPads, and tablets are prohibited. As soon as someone reports something missing to his or her house office, housemasters immediately conduct an investigation with the principal and assistant principal. If nothing was found at the conclusion of the investigation, Officer Hall said he may get involved. Tracking devices on cell phones can provide crucial information on its whereabouts.

“Stealing is still a crime, whether you have a lock on your locker or not. It is my job to get involved because I will not minimize the situation if it was unsecured,” said Hall. “Students should be more mindful of securing property, especially with cell phones because they are such easy access that other students can just take right out of backpacks without anyone noticing.”

“Throughout the school year there have been about a dozen reported thefts, with the suspects known, some have resulted in court, and the remainder of cases are still open,” said Hall. If students are unable to find who took their belongings, Hall explained that word of mouth sometimes gets the best of people.

“Kids brag all the time. Sometimes we solve our cases through talk, other times we have witnesses which usually result in charges…You don’t know the motivation to people stealing, usually it is because they want to    sell it for money,” said Hall.