Money Moral Dilemma. Would you hand in a camera you found on a beach?

ellymoo

hellywelly5 wrote: »

No I'd keep it.

I mislaid my husbands camera ( the whole family had clubbed together and bought it for him for his 50th birthday) in Turkey, it also contained all my 40th birthday party piccies and it wasn't handed in When I reported it to the Police, (which took all of the following morning) they were very angry with and said 'no Turkish people steal anything, it's against our religion'....I hadn't said that at all..... just that I'd mislaid it on a trip.

Surely if you mislaid your camera and nobody handed it in, it would make you more determined not to put someone else through the same thing?

I would do my best to find the owner and if I couldn't I'd then hand it in, knowing at least I'd done my best. I had my camera stolen on holiday and it absolutely gutted me. I'd do all I could to ensure that someone didn't go through what I did.

Scorpion_Sting

I was sat on a beach in Ireland during August. Two youths approached, wearing 'hoodies'. They asked if I'd lost a mobile phone (with a camera and all the other fancy bits). I hadn't, but suggested that there was a childrens' playground just through the dunes near to where I was sitting. They thanked me and then continued along the shore, stopping every now and again to talk to people, before disappearning through the sand dunes. After an hour they came back. They wanted to tell me that they had found the person who had dropped the phone. She had been in the playground and was overjoyed to get her phone back as she'd been using it to take photos of her holiday.

Full marks to the young people for making the effort to find the rightful owner.

I forgot to say, if I had found the camera phone myself I would have handed it in, either to the Police, or to the Reception of a local hotel.

burybird

It happened to me too!
I was near Sydney, Australia and found a SLR camera with lens on the rocks overlooking the beach. We took the camera to the nearest Police station, which was quite difficult to find I might add, and left my brothers contact details (he lives in Syndey). 3 months later they phoned and told him no-one had claimed it so he could have it!
He says it's fantastic and reckons it would cost a couple of hundred pounds.
SO we did the right thing and got a good result!:A

VickiB

The first photo on my memory card is of my email address and phone number so I too would check to see if I could identify who it belonged to. If not then yes, I'd hand it in because I'd be very grateful if someone did the same for me if I'd left my camera behind.

mrbrightside842

Having lost a camera on holiday, and lots of precious photos on it, I'd definitely hand it in somewhere or try and reunite it with it's owner.

BigBananaFeet

I found a digital camera in Falkirk, Scotland and handed it into the police station. I got a leaflet saying after a period of time, if no-one claimed it, I could get it. I contacted the police after the time period, only to be told that they don't give digital cameras back to finders in case there are any inappropriate pictures on the hard disk of the camera. Their policy is to destroy the camera! I wish I'd known - I would rather have tried to trace the owner myself. I will never hand another camera into the police.

mjhmjh2

poet123 wrote: »

What a really patronising comment. Speaking for myself, a well travelled, savvy adult:rolleyes: I would rather hand in a camera and hope that it was eventually reunited with it's owner than not do so, in some misguided attempt to be perceived as euro savvy:rolleyes:

I have travelled widely In Europe, and always found kindess and compassion in the people of most countries, given a chance. I think your comment is more of a salve to your conscience than a truly representative view of the European view of lost property.

Hear hear!
If really that is the attitude of some Europeans, then I can only think what the rest of the world must think of Europeans. I've lovely personal and friends experiences from around the world.

e.g. friend lost their wallet in Singapore Airport. It was handed in. Not only did the airport go out of the way to return it, but they offered to either post it complete back (free of charge), or to take the cash and directly transfer it to her bank account and then ship her wallet/cards back to her, again free of charge.. OK so Singapore is perhaps a polar opposite to Italy then but it gives a nice balance

OK so some places in the world you aren't going to see it again. However there are good honest people the world over. Do the right thing and treat people how you would wish to be treated yourself

Matthew

elizabethhull

How would you know it was worth £100, I certainly wouldn't and anyway the value of it is in the photos not the gadget. So your actions should be the same, even if like me you can't tell the difference between a Tesco £8.99 and a Canon £150!!!
Excellent idea to photograph your name & hotel whether here or abroad.
Not much good on my non-digital camera which has just as much value to me.
Am puzzled why the notion of returning property to its rightful owner should be viewed as amusingly quaint. Is that common in other Western countries?

nc35

s2000 wrote: »

OH DEAR OH DEAR OH DEAR!!

It is just this sort of naïvety that makes the Europeans laugh at the British.

The reality of it is that if you went into an Italian police station and handed in something like this, the cops will firstly give you a blank stare of disbelief, then take the camera from you, have a chuckle with their colleagues after you leave the station and then one of them will keep the thing!

This is not racist by the way, I am ½ Italian and know the culture, and the perceptions of Europeans about the British.

Nor am I advocating theft, I should point out. But the British need to step back and get some self-awareness of their goody two-shoes mentality. The most sensible comment I have seen is to look through the pictures on the camera and try and spot the owners on the remainder of the holiday.

Most of you people would be eaten alive outside this nanny state!

Well Said...
Worked all over Europe and yes you are correct

A.Jones

I wouldn't waste my time handing it in - it is unlikely to get back to its owner. The photos are obviously not that precious, otherwise the owner would have taken more care with the camera. Did they not even have a look around before leaving the beach to check they have everything, or make sure it is securely inside their bag before they left?