Do the police return found items to you that youve turned into them after 90 days?

[Treasure_Hunter]

If your going to turn in something, turn in everything. Pull tabs are lost and belong to someone, turn in all your trash too!!

 

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[kingskid1611]

Just keep it. Finders, Keepers, Losers, Weepers. The better question is do you pay your taxes on everything you find.
Cause your supposed to.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

If your going to turn in something, turn in everything. Pull tabs are lost and belong to someone, turn in all your trash too!!

Not sure about other state's exact wording. I was told, at the time I studied this, that it was approx. the same, with minor nuances of difference of value threshold, etc... But in CA, here's the deal:

a) if the item is worth $100 or more, you have to turn it in. You get it back if un-claimed.

b) if the item is worth $250 or more, the same as (a) above applies. Except in cases of $250 or more, the police would run a "found" ad in a local publication. Then later, if not claimed, you can, like in (a), go pick up the item. HOWEVER: you would have to pay for the cost of whatever it cost to run the ad in the newspaper classifieds, if you wanted to claim the item.

Anyhow, since tabs aren't $100 or more, I guess they don't have to be turned in here.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Florida
705.103 Procedure for abandoned or lost property. ...

705.102 Reporting lost or abandoned property.—

(1) Whenever any person finds any lost or abandoned property, such person shall report the description and location of the property to a law enforcement officer.

(2) The law enforcement officer taking the report shall ascertain whether the person reporting the property wishes to make a claim to it if the rightful owner cannot be identified or located. If the person does wish to make such claim, he or she shall deposit with the law enforcement agency a reasonable sum sufficient to cover the agency's cost for transportation, storage, and publication of notice. This sum shall be reimbursed to the finder by the rightful owner should he or she identify and reclaim the property.

(b) For lost property, the officer shall take custody and the agency shall retain custody of the property for 90 days. The agency shall publish notice of the intended disposition of the property, as provided in this section, during the first 45 days of this time period.

1. If the agency elects to retain the property for use by the unit of government, donate the property to a charitable organization, surrender such property to the finder, sell the property, or trade the property to another unit of local government or state agency, notice of such election shall be given by an advertisement published once a week for 2 consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the county where the property was found if the value of the property is more than $100. If the value of the property is $100 or less, notice shall be given by posting a description of the property at the law enforcement agency where the property was turned in. The notice must be posted for not less than 2 consecutive weeks in a public place designated by the law enforcement agency. The notice must describe the property in a manner reasonably adequate to permit the rightful owner of the property to claim it.

2. If the agency elects to sell the property, it must do so at public sale by competitive bidding. Notice of the time and place of the sale shall be given by an advertisement of the sale published once a week for 2 consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the county where the sale is to be held. The notice shall include a statement that the sale shall be subject to any and all liens. The sale must be held at the nearest suitable place to that where the lost or abandoned property is held or stored. The advertisement must include a description of the goods and the time and place of the sale. The sale may take place no earlier than 10 days after the final publication. If there is no newspaper of general circulation in the county where the sale is to be held, the advertisement shall be posted at the door of the courthouse and at three other public places in the county at least 10 days prior to sale. Notice of the agency's intended disposition shall describe the property in a manner reasonably adequate to permit the rightful owner of the property to identify it.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

TH'r, thanx for posting all that . I notice that in the case of Florida, the "value" of an item is not the criteria for whether-or-not you must report your finds. You're required to report them either way, right ? The only thing the value-of-the-item ("$100 or more") has to do with it, is whether or not "posting" in a newspaper is required, or not.

And in the *meantime", if you are intending to claim it (after 45 days), then you are agreeing to pay all costs associated with the "transportation, storage, and publication" . Right?

Well seeing as how FL doesn't have a value cutoff for-which to report, and seeing-as-how pulltabs have intrinsic melt value, do you turn your tabs in, so as to be in compliance with the law ?

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

The fact you can turn an item in and pay for storage and fees to run ad and yet after all is said and done no one claims it yet they still have the choice of selling item, donate it to charitable organization, trade it to another local or state organization or give it to finder I will leave my answer to your imagination...

 

[G.I.B.]

If I find something worth turning in- the police will have to make a house call.

I'm not driving to them and paying for parking and gas and time...

Reminder, when you post something on CL, you never know who is actually calling you. It could be the police, or somebody spoofing the system to make you think it's the police.

 

[srcdco]

Here is a link to the laws of NY: Lost And Found Property :: Personal Property :: 2006 New York Code :: New York Code :: US Codes and Statutes :: US Law :: Justia. I researched this a few years ago when my wife found a $50 bill in the parking lot of a local store. She insisted on taking it to the Sheriff's office. Since the value was under $100, the time period is only 3 months (the waiting period goes up with the value). They put it in an evidence bag and gave her the top portion as a receipt. After a little more than 3 months, I contacted them about it and they said they still had it and she could come and pick it up any time. She got it the next day. She still has it, in the evidence bag.

Scott

 

[ivan salis]

found abandoned safe on the road side ... turned in into the cops in case it was "stole" --no one reported a stole / missing safe or claimed it -- after 90 days it was mine , all legal like---- too bad once I opened it , it was empty..

 

[Dave Rishar]

This thread got me thinking about an incident that happened a couple of years ago here. I did a bit of Googling and found a reference to it:

Lawsuit: Man accuses Bremerton police of allowing stolen SUV to be auctioned | Kitsap Crime and Justice

Basically, the city police department sold a guy a car at auction; later, the WSP showed up and seized it because it was a stolen vehicle. When he asked for his money back, the State Patrol told him to take it up with the city. When he brought the matter up to the city, they told him that it wasn't their problem, so he pursued the only avenue left to him - he sued them. This seemed to be a straightforward case, but I did some more digging to see how it was resolved and...yeah, it's ugly. Take a gander at this:

https://www.courts.wa.gov/content/petitions/91262-9 Petition for Review.pdf

This whole thing started in 2011. Here we are in 2015, and this poor guy is still trying to get his money back. The city's arguing that it can legally sell stolen property and that they don't have to pay him because of a procedural error in his initial lawsuit, while the WSP said that even though they seized his car illegally, they're in no way responsible for this. Great folks to deal with, aren't they?

Obviously not all police departments operate this way, but the ones around here do apparently. Can they be trusted with valuables? I'm not sure that I want to find out.

 

[cudamark]

Having been in a related business, I've participated in many of those auctions through the years. There have been many horror stories of impounded cars with bad VIN'S and/or hidden drugs or other contraband being found at a later date. Each governmental department tries to pass the responsibility buck to the other.

 

[Rogerv]

I have always had the knack of noticing things on the side of the road or out of place. in 2006 I found 8 wallets in MD,Va and DC and one combo diaper bag/purse in Austin TX while on a training trip. All had quite a bit of money,credit cards etc in them and I was able to contact them and return them to their owners. (They were shocked that all their stuff was intact) My son found a $300+ wad of wet money at the mall in which he started to turn it in to the mall guard desk but after thinking about it he gave them his contact info and told them if someone could name the amount he would return it. He ended up keeping it. I would not turn any found jewelry to the police. I might post a found notice.

 

[kayakpat]

Since "tough on crime" laws in the 80's any property used in the process of any crime, the property gets impounded and sold for money to pay for law enforcement but I do believe "found" stuff turned in has a period of time they have to hold it in case the owner shows up to reclaim it.

 

[Vdubguy]

About 20 years ago I found another wallet with nothing but money in it while hiking in a State Park. It had $375.00 in it. I gave the Park Ranger my contact information and told them that if anyone came in looking for a lost wallet I'd be happy to return it if they could describe it and tell me what the contents were. This seemed to satisfy the Park Ranger. I'm not sure how the police would feel about it.

And no one ever did claim the wallet.

I did this same exact thing last year at a state campground. My wife found a gold wedding band in the bath house and I went to the ranger office and asked if anyone has reported a lost ring? The ranger replied, "Nope, just leave it with me and I'll make sure it gets back to the owner." The he asked me to show it to him so HE could give a description of what it looked like to whoever calls inquiring about it. I politely declined and gave him my contact information. He seemed pretty offended that that's what I did, but I didn't care.

Two days later, I receive a call from a very anxious woman who described the ring perfectly and it was FedEx'ed over night back to her.

The campground was in Georgia and the owner was from North Carolina. It was a good feeling to return something.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

I did this same exact thing last year at a state campground. My wife found a gold wedding band in the bath house and I went to the ranger office and asked if anyone has reported a lost ring? The ranger replied, "Nope, just leave it with me and I'll make sure it gets back to the owner." The he asked me to show it to him so HE could give a description of what it looked like to whoever calls inquiring about it. I politely declined and gave him my contact information. He seemed pretty offended that that's what I did, but I didn't care.

Two days later, I receive a call from a very anxious woman who described the ring perfectly and it was FedEx'ed over night back to her.

The campground was in Georgia and the owner was from North Carolina. It was a good feeling to return something.

While in each of those 2 situations, you each alerted LEO's, yet kept the item for yourself, I have a suspicion that in both situations, you were breaking the law. Oh sure perhaps that LEO on duty didn't know the deep legaleeze, or perhaps just wasn't an issue to him personally, etc... But had they wanted to, they could have insisted you leave it (lest you be breaking the law).

The reason is: The lost & found laws do not make provision for YOU AND I to make our OWN repatriation attempts (and the related actions like determining who accurately described it, versus who didn't, etc...). The law simply mandates to turn it in. Therefore things like tacking a "found" ad flyer to a telephone pole, or using found ads on craigslist, or telling a cop to "let me know if someone reports something missing", will all not technically suffice to satisfy the law.

Not that any of this will change any of us md'rs actions mind you. I highly doubt any md'r here will now be "rushing down to the police station" each time they find a ring. We all (in all avenues of life), tend to pick which laws are important enough to follow, versus which ones are silly.

 

[Rick (Nova Scotia)]

My father once found a 4 wheeler chained to a tree in the woods on his property, knowing full well "some" of the locals near by it was quite obviously stolen. Not wanting to get in trouble himself over it, and perhaps to learn those guys not to hide their stolen goods on his property he did call the cops. They told him if no one claimed it in 90 days he would get it back.

I was pretty skeptical that that would ever happen, but sure enough it did happen. "Apparently" a fellow did show up to claim it, but didn't have a serial number, so they didn't give it to them. Could be as was similarly mentioned earlier in this thread the thieves sent in someone with a description ? Don't know for sure, but in this case he did get back a "found" 4 wheeler from the police.

As far as a ring, without inscription, lost for a few years, well....the very few gold I find, I'll be keeping.

 

[Havillah]

Years ago, I found a $100.00 bill while I was metal detecting. <snip>Sure I turned it into the cops! God wanted me to find that $100.00 as I was there in the right place at the right time. If God wanted the cops to find it, they would have before me and the cop would have put it in his pocket!

Mega AMEN, most honorable Brother Rustynailsandscrews!

When is the last time you have heard of someone being arrested for not turning a valuable find ?

Never!

 

[Cassews]

Ya know we teach our kids to do the right thing in life .. so what happened to them in adulthood that they cannot remember to do the right thing? Just amazes ya

 

[cudamark]

IMO, doing the right thing is trying to find the person who lost the item so you can return it. The decision we have to make is, who is the best at doing that? An overworked police dept that couldn't care less, or one of us, who do this as a hobby and find enjoyment in returning lost items. If you're not willing to make the effort, sure, let the police give it a feeble try.

 

[yodi]

You should bring them all the beer cans and gum rappers let them find there owners