Police Lost Property craziness....please help!!!

Igol

You didnt actually have to hand it in to the police anyway.
You state you put up signs and had attemped to get Apple to contact the owner for you.
You'd therefore taken reasonable steps to return the property to its owner and after a resonable length of time you could claim it as your own.
You could have informed the police in case anyone had reported it missing and kept it in your care for the standard 6 weeks.

hollydays

PasturesNew wrote: »

I came out of my house one morning and there was a small plastic bag in my front garden, about 6"x8", stuffed full of jewellery. I took it to the police station, they didn't even say I could ever claim it ... and I never heard anything ever again.

Somebody I know found a stereo and a bag of CDs/DVDs down the back lane, he took it to the police station and got pretty much the same reception.

Probably because that is suspected stolen property,not just found property.

It has really !!!!ed me off when my kids have handed in found jewellry and got no thanks,but I think they only give the finders details if you specifically ask,and some people have no manners.

RadoJo

I thought the point of returning 'found' items to their owners was to reunite a person with something that is rightfully theirs, not to demand gratitude, a reward or the chance of bagging a free gift. Whenever I find something that belongs to someone else, I just hope that they get it back, and I certainly wouldn't change my behaviour because one person didn't show my required level of gratitude - why punish the next unlucky person because of a situation that may not even be as you perceive it?
I think perhaps this is a case of expectations being too high - I would hope that someone got their items back, and consider any thanks/reward as a bonus. In the OP's case I would say 'let it go' - you have no real claim on the Ipod but if karma has anything to do with it, next time you lose something hopefully it will be found by someone who makes even half the effort you did!

AdrianW2

tandraig wrote: »

Could it be that in their wisdom the police wouldnt give their names and addresses to the owner of the wallet (under the guise of dpa?)?

There's a tick box on the form to indicate whether finder's details should be passed on.

critchley999

Back to the OP, it seems daft to me. If you find something and keep it it's dishonest but you've acquired a nice new Ipod or whatever. You do the honest thing and hand it in, then surely you should get it back - simple as that. If you were the type of person that would take personal information and use it in an illegal way, then you certainly wouldn't be the type of person to hand it in to the Police in the first place.

Has anyone ever got any money back from the Police as being "unclaimed"? I'd be interested to know as, being an old cynic, I'd imagine it goes in their Christmas Fund. :rotfl:

DON79

What I would be interested to know is what happens to items the police retrieve which were stolen in a home burglary?? Having been burgled and had our video camera stolen with videos of our three month old baby boy on it, we were pretty devastated. We never heard another thing from the police at all about it.

So if it had been recovered - how much effort would the police put into checking past records to try reunite owners with the items or would they just instantly put it into their auctions with no investigations?

it's not a nice thought to think that instead of our getting our camera and precious baby video's back that it simply got sold to the highest bidder.

hollydays

RadoJo wrote: »

I thought the point of returning 'found' items to their owners was to reunite a person with something that is rightfully theirs, not to demand gratitude, a reward or the chance of bagging a free gift. Whenever I find something that belongs to someone else, I just hope that they get it back, and I certainly wouldn't change my behaviour because one person didn't show my required level of gratitude - why punish the next unlucky person because of a situation that may not even be as you perceive it?
I think perhaps this is a case of expectations being too high - I would hope that someone got their items back, and consider any thanks/reward as a bonus. In the OP's case I would say 'let it go' - you have no real claim on the Ipod but if karma has anything to do with it, next time you lose something hopefully it will be found by someone who makes even half the effort you did!

But if it is kids handing stuff in,it is nice for them to have that personal contact with the recipient,in order to reinforce what,as parents ,we want to teach them,ie honesty is the best policy.

Finch

warehouse wrote: »

The opposite can happen too!

My parents found a wallet with £200 in cash outside their front gate. This was just before Christmas so obviously someones spending money for presents. As there were no contact details inside the wallet they took it straight to the Police station, filled in all the forms which included their names, address and phone number.

Six/seven weeks later they went back and asked what had happened. The Police told them that the wallet had been claimed the same day. The people who had lost it didn't even make the slightest effort to say thanks to my parents, just took it and carried on.

Needless to say my parents will not be taking any further wallets to the Police!

I lost my purse several years ago, and although I didn't ever expect to get it back, I did call the police. To my amazement, it had been handed in.

When I went to get it, I expressed my gratitude to the person who had handed it in, and asked if I could thank them- I was told the person's name was confidential, and they could not give me any information- nor did they ask to pass on any info from me.

Just saying- maybe the person your parents helped was grateful.

And keeping any other lost wallets because of one person's (apparent) ingratitude! That makes them worse, IMO!!

Takoda

tandraig wrote: »

Takoda wrote: »

my mum was in her seventies - and was under the impression the police 'are our friends' her friend was even older and they were shocked but thought it would turn up - when the deceased son was chatting to them later - and mentioned it was strange no wallet found as he was obviously going to car to go out....... mum told me............so i phoned cops on her behalf..cops told me none of my business .......mum and friend witness so mum told deceased son........and made statement to solicitor..........upshot ............cops denied wallet on scene!
clear now?

It wasn't unclear before.

None of your post above is relevant.

It is STILL none of your business. Which is exactly what the Police told you.

sophieschoice

DON79 wrote: »

What I would be interested to know is what happens to items the police retrieve which were stolen in a home burglary?? Having been burgled and had our video camera stolen with videos of our three month old baby boy on it, we were pretty devastated. We never heard another thing from the police at all about it.

So if it had been recovered - how much effort would the police put into checking past records to try reunite owners with the items or would they just instantly put it into their auctions with no investigations?
.

Whilst I do sympathise with the loss of treasured memories, did you (or does anyone for that matter) bother recording expensive items?
This site at least gives you a chance should items stolen in a burglary be recovered:-
http://www.immobilise.com/

It would be almost impossible for any police force to track down the owners of items stolen by means of a burglary. Especially if the burglars were out of the area.
My advice would be to mark high value items with your post code using a security pen, take photos (and print them off) and always keep the serial numbers.