By Jay Carroll
Staff Writer

With the latest theft incident at Coppell High School, it is evident that crime continues to be a problem at this school. While the thieves were arrested, safety concerns continue to arise.

The Coppell Crime Commission recently released their crime of the week. The criminals did not attend Coppell High School; however, toward the end of B lunch, they headed to the boys basketball locker room and stole an HTC cell phone, myTouch 4G phone, HP laptop and a backpack with a graphing calculator and other school supplies.

“There are three criminals that are not from here,” campus resource officer Craig Parish said. “They are from Grapevine. The total value that stolen was around 1,800 dollars, which makes it a felony.”

The criminals were caught on video, which led to the arrest along with tips from students who saw the suspects. Officer Parish was able to take a snap shot of two of the three criminals and send the pictures to every department in and around the Metroplex, which led to the identification of one of the criminals.

Edwin Lucero and Nester Rodriguez were two of the thieves, while the third thief is a minor, so his name could not be released. All three men have criminal histories.

An hour after the crime took place, tips came in from students about suspicious activity. However, because the thieves had had more than enough time to get away, the reports were not timely enough.

“It only took them ten minutes to get on campus take the items and get off campus,” Parish said.

The officers could not recover all of the stolen items because the three thieves pawned the item after they stole the items.

The cell phones and backpack were recovered with the arrest.

While the crime was solved, this is still raising security issues. The fact that the criminals could just walk in, steal some items from students and walk out scares students.

“I do not feel as safe because I never thought anyone could just walk in to our school and do that,” sophomore Simi Socks said.

For now, while security is an issue, students can also help the cause. The reason these things were stolen in this case and most cases, is because their belongings were not locked up.

“The number one thing we tell students is to lock up your belongings and expensive items,” Parish said. “And if you don’t have access to a place that can be locked ask your teacher or coach if they have a spot that it will be safe or watched.”

Even though the officers urge their students to lock up their bags, some just are not taking the advice.

“I have sat down with Mr. Jasso and the other administrators to talk about coming on the announcements every once in a while to remind students to take care of their bags by locking them up and being more responsible with their belongings,” assistant principal Sean Bagley said.

This is not the first theft to occur on campus this year; the Student Resource Officers have at least two people per day report having something stolen.  They get about six to 12 people every week; this is an increase from last year.

“Nothing could have been stolen if their bags were locked up, but hopefully it was an isolated incident,” boys basketball coach Brad Chasteen said.