Rachel Morrison/Pioneer
Unclaimed lost and found items fill an entire filing cabinet in the office of Safety and Security. Students may not be aware of the lost and found cabinet and are encouraged to inquire about missing personal items.

That favorite sweater of yours might not be gone after all or maybe that notebook you forgot in the cafeteria isn’t actually stolen.

Before giving up hope of finding missing items, students should check with Lost and Found, said campus Police Chief Jim Fitzpatrick.

Lost and Found is located in the Safety and Security Department located right behind the coffee shop on the first floor of the Main building. Many people are unaware that Lost and Found is located there.

Only four out of the 15 students interviewed were aware that OCCC had a Lost and Found. Two of the four students who did know had actually lost something.

One of those students was Tiffany McDonald, who remembers the circumstances of learning about Lost and Found. She said she had spent her lunch period at the coffee shop tables early in the afternoon in December.

When she got to her car, she realized she had forgotten her keys. When she returned to the table at which she had just been sitting to look for them, she saw her keys were missing.

Coffee shop employees told her to check Lost and Found in the Safety and Security Department. This was when she learned about the service and reclaimed her car keys, McDonald said.

Fitzpatrick said he wishes more students knew where to check for lost and missing items.

“It’s a pretty significant problem for us for how much stuff comes in here,” Fitzpatrick said.

Recovered items range from shavers to cameras, phones to wallets, jewelry to calculators, notebooks to clothing, flash drives to driver’s licenses, and sometimes money.

To retrieve an item, the owner will have to identify himself or herself, describe the lost item, and tell when and where it was lost, Fitzpatrick said.

After an extended period of time, unclaimed items must be disposed of.

The security department sends unclaimed cell phones to domestic violence victims who can’t afford to buy one on their own, Fitzpatrick said.

Also, if money or jewelry has been deserted, it is given to the state treasury.

If your item isn’t recovered at the Lost and Found on the first visit, it may be there on the second, Fitzpatrick said. Students and faculty bring in lost possessions on a daily basis.

“(Workers in Lost and Found) can even take your information to contact you if someone brings it in,” Fitzpatrick said. “It would be wonderful to get these things back to people.”

For more information, come by the Safety and Security Department or call 405-682-1611, ext. 7691.