The iPhone is changing petty crime, again.

Once, a night out in the mayhem of the French Quarter mayhem required cash to be protected, first and foremost. Wallets were placed in front pockets. Or, in true Bourbon Street fashion, cash was safest when securely tucked into the undergarments. Ditching the purse to protect against wandering hands was also advised.

But with the advent of sleek, ultra-portable technology comes a new object to protect. Lately, the snatchers are zeroing in on smartphones. Taking advantage of the fact that a person talking on a cell phone is holding their expensive device in plain sight, and focusing more on conversation than immediate surroundings, iPhone thefts are filling up NOPD reports in the simple robbery category.

Continuing a trend that held steady throughout 2011, police reported six cell phone snatching is the first two weeks of 2012, according to alerts sent out by the Department's Eighth District. Many of the incidents bare the same descriptions: a person is walking while talking or texting on their phone. An assailants runs from behind, snatches the phone from the person's hand, and sprints away.

Other than thieves' susceptibility to Apple marketing schemes that point out, "If you don't have an iPhone, then you don't have an iPhone," evidence suggests there is a neighborhood black market for stolen smart phones. Back in May, a pair of gadget grabbers were tracked down with stolen phones, and found to be selling the devices on the street.

Police had success syncing up with the assailants in one of this year's cases. On Wednesday, undercover cop Jason Williams was on Royal Street for a different assignment when he heard a woman yell, "Stop! Stop!" according to police. He saw a man running down Royal toward Iberville who just snatched an iPhone. Collins called for backup, and gave chase to the man. At one point, the man hid under a car on Iberville, but then got up and started back-tracking away from the river. Collins and a partner eventually apprehended Christopher Briscoe, 17, there, and he was eventually fingered as the robber. Detectives are trying to see if he is connected to other iPhone crimes.

Just before the new year, Collins nabbed a similar thief in similar circumstances. On Dec. 28, 2011, a man was texting near the corner St. Louis and Chartres Sts. around 4:30 p.m., when a 14-year-old grabbed his phone and ran off. Collins was again nearby, working to enforce the city's aggressive panhandling ordinance. He nabbed the suspects, then brought them before the assailants, who denied robbing the man. Collins then asked the man for his phone number. Collins called it, and heard the phone ring in the teen's pocket. The teen was booked on robbery charges.

In press releases announcing the nabbings, NOPD Chief Ronal Serpas credited the cops with "great teamwork." But there's a clear trend that reaches beyond individual incidents. In fact, the uptick in iPhone crimes in the French Quarter mirrors a national trend, and Apple is well aware that their marketing schemes make the iPhone attractive even to people that can't afford them. That is to say, there's some apps for that. Find My iPhone can be installed on a different Apple device, and allows users to locate their iPhone on a map in the event it gets stolen.

The iGotYa app takes catching thieves in the act a step further. The app activates when someone puts in an incorrect password to unlock the phone. Using the iPhone 4's front-facing camera, the app then snaps a picture of the person using the iPhone, and e-mails it to the owner. A rather welcoming message then appears, reading, "Please return this device to the original owner, you bastard!" As a bonus, the app even appears to have worked last fall in New York City.

While we wait for Siri to be capable of announcing she is being stolen, there's always the rotary option: putting the phone in your pocket while walking in crowded areas. For this option, we reccomend turning down the volume on alert messages. Those beeps can be tough to ignore.