I had to laugh when the officer started talking.

[SeaninNH]

It as about 11:30 pm and I was at a tot lot the other night when a cop came by and called me over.

He said the the park had a 9pm curfew and I couldn't stay.

He then asked me what I did with the stuff I found. My reply.. "I put it in my pocket".

He then said "That is theft of property". You are supposed to turn any valuables you find into the police department.

I laughed at him and he got beat red. I said.. It's not theft it's called FOUND.

He said "If you find someones property and don't turn it in that is theft. It's not finders keepers like when you were young".

I said... "Actually it is. If I find something, it's found, not stolen so I'm keeping it".

He says "If you find a ring and pawn it and they find it in the pawn store they can press charges and you will get in trouble for theft of property".

I laughed again and said" That's not a problem. Everything that I find goes to get melted down not pawned".

He didn't have a reply to that and let me leave.

I don't care who says what... If I find it I keep it. PERIOD!

If It's possible to return something I'm sure that I would return it, but for the most part, we all know that our finds are not identifyable.

 

[SeaninNH]

Maybe i'm reading it wrong but... With the attitude you displayed, your lucky he didn't slap the cuffs on you and take you in for trespassing. Get smart with a cop down here and see what happens. Sad but true.

I never gave him an attitude. Infact I said everything with a smile. I know how to talk to police officers. I know they are people just doing a job.

I was polite and respectful to him the entire time.

I know how things that are said can be taken in many ways. That is why I say less and make sure what I say can't be taken in the wrong light.

More or less I told him I only find change pocket change or trash, wished him a good evening and went on my way to the next lot on my rounds.

What's funny is that a couple of weeks before this, at the same place, I ran into another officer that was really cool. He was asking what I found and I was showing him some of the bullets and sharp chunks of metal as well as a handful of coins.

It was the same time of night and he didn't care that I was there.

 

[Captn_Frog]

Some interesting comments in this thread. However, because of it I check Michigan Lost & Found laws. Basically "anything" you find must be turned into the law enforcement with jurisdiction of where it was found. The reason I say "anything" is because they have categories that defined what was found. I will not name hem all, but in the case of currency, there is both collectable currency = worth more than face value, and currency = face value. There is even a junk category = of no scrap value.

I really wonder what agency would even want to take the time to legally located an owner for a few pennies or junk turned into them. They would soon call me a nuisance.

It was also interesting to note that for minor valued items, the wait period is 3 months and for major, it is 6 months.

This of course all depends if I read the law documents correctly. mmmm Does that mean I need to hire an attorney before I decide to turn over my pennies, tabs.........

A crazy world it has become for sure.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

hey capn' frog, wow you brought up an old post Ok now, we all expect you'll do the right thing, as a law-abiding code-of-ethics-following hobbyist: Yes, you are required to turn in all your coins (clad, oldies, etc...), all your jewelry, etc... However, we'll let you keep the tabs and foil (and no, you can't throw them back on the ground, lest you be cited for littering). Now go do the right thing!

 

[TheHarleyMan2]

I would have reached in my pocket and pulled out all the pull tabs I found and said, "Here I would like to turn these in, being you are here and you are right, I found someone elses property, that would save me a trip to the police department to turn them over! So now that you are here, please take them and find the owner!"

Then if he said throw it away it is trash, I would argue with him that it is not trash, someone has lost them, and demand that he do a report of me turning in the pull tabs so the owner can come claim them AND I would make him count them!!!

That would get his boating rolling!

 

[Frankn]

Well I read the first few posts and want to bring up two points.
- some states do have finders keepers laws Delaware is one.
- Return to owner? I found a gold wedding band on the beach at OC, MD and a guy who had been watching came up and and said. "You found my wedding band that I just lost." I held it up and looked at it carefully and said." Just tell me the inscription on the inside and I will give it to you." He turned around and walked away. PS There was no inscription! I have turned in school rings. One had no owner. the school could find no one with the correct initials for several years. I told them to find someone deserving. It was one of those white metal rings. I found a Rolex on the beach. Took it to the police. They gave me a form to take to the paper. the paper ran it under lost and found requesting serial # as proof. No clames, went back to police with signed form and they gave me the watch and paper of ownership. went to jeweler He offered $800. We both went home happy that night. This was years ago! Frank

 

[jeff of pa]

if you turned everthing in,
you would Probably see a story or Ad
in the Paper saying
RARE Collectable coins found by Police in Park.

& Pics of wheat cents from the 40's & 50's,

rare No date buffalos,

& of course rotted Memorials
that look thousands of years old

& CNN would pick the story up as
Must have been a robbery

 

[TerryC]

Back in the early '80's, I was detecting the Jamestown NP... VA. I was unaware that I was in a Natl Park! Walking back to the car... I was approached by a ranger. He asked,"Find anything?" I showed him a pocketful of trash, including bottlecaps, pulltabs, etc.... and one great big gold earring! All he told me was "Get lost". (He had me.... federal offence.... but just let me go) TTC

 

[fishbone3d]

I have found many dangerous items before, such as needles, knives, and live ammo. I usually keep and old needle wrapped up in a cloth, that I used for my dog vaccines. When a person gets a little crazy towards me, I show them that. It really mellows them out. I ask them if they wanted to step on it. Then I point to the playground where I found it. As for the police officer. With the crime towards children these days, I would be interested in what a person was doing at 11:30 pm in a park that closes at 9pm. Just follow the rules. I usually go with my lady detecting in parks. People are overly scared these days for pretty good reasons. Just be nice to the officer, and agree. If we piss off too many people, then we will not have any more places to go. It only takes a city, county or township one voting session to make detecting illegal on municipal properties.

 

[Waterbug]

Here is the link to Scottsdale,AZ laws on found items.
http://library.municode.com/index.aspx?clientID=10075&stateID=3&statename=Arizona
In left column,click:
Chapter 23:Police
click:
Article III Lost or Abandon Property
Read all,especially what it has to say about money and coins.

 

[hombre_de_plata_flaco]

If you were in a park around my neighborhood at 11:30 PM with a metal detector, you would certainly be robbed, quite possibly murdered. A bored cop would be the least of your worries.

This may be the funniest post I have read since I have been posting here.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

waterbug, your link is incomplete or something. It just goes to some sort of table of contents. Do you have a specific link to what you're talking about?

 

[Waterbug]

Tom,please reread the post.Instructions are below the addy.I tried to put a link to the correct page but it didn't work,so you have to do a couple clicks to get to the info.Thanks for looking.

 

[SeaninNH]

"Rare coins or currency of numismatic value shall be transferred by the police department to the purchasing department and sold."


Yup... THEY should profit from your finds.... NOT!

 

[Tom_in_CA]

thanx for clarifying waterbug.

You gotta love the "rare coins ...." provision, eh? And notice it doesn't make exception to when YOU think the coin was lost (ie.: a coin collector looses a 1909 s vdb cent yesterday, verses a park visitor lost it 100 yrs. ago). Afterall, you might think a gopher just brought it up out of ground (as the reason it's right on top), but in reality, perhaps a coin collector just lost it?

So go do the right thing, and turn in all your wheat pennies, mercs, barbers, seateds, etc.... Afterall, we have the "code of ethics" which states, "I will obey all laws"

 

[hombre_de_plata_flaco]

"Rare coins or currency of numismatic value shall be transferred by the police department to the purchasing department and sold."


Yup... THEY should profit from your finds.... NOT!

LOL.....

Cops make enough side money from busting drug dealers. That "Training Day" stuff happens in real life - even in small towns. I know this for a FACT.

 

[Sandman]

Some laws are written to make the cities or what ever lawyers happy. Most police don't wanna hassle us and dread the paper work. Just don't piss them off or they could go "Clint Eastwood" on you.

 

[ZR2guy]

The police officer apparently had too much time on his hands to hassle someone metal detecting especially if it wasn't posted that MDing is prohibited.. Our tax dollars at work. He was being a real crime fighter that night. I would have just handed him all my trash and told him to take it back to the police station and find the rightful owners.Oh yeah, isn't littering illegal? Maybe he needed reminded how metal detectorists clean up parks and don't receive any "tax dollar" compensation for it. I paid hard earned money for my detector. Why should I be penalized/hassled over finding something that someone lost by turning it over to the police just so it can sit around till they sell it and make money on it if it even gets turned in by the "honest man with a badge" ?

 

[dneyedli@res1.mts.net]

Interesting thread!
It inspired me to pass along a little experience from the other day......

I was detecting at a green space here in my city when I noticed a fellow walking by who had a face that resembled a catfish and he was stuffing his mouth full of peanuts.
He was trying to stuff more peanuts than possible for the size of his mouth and left a trail of nuts as he waddled on by.
I kept hunting and not long after, a squirrel collected his lost peanuts.
Then it occurred to me......

1. The bag of peanuts has a value, belonged to Mr. Catfish, and each nut is lost property.
Say the bag cost $3 and there was a 100 nuts in the bag, making each peanut worth 3 cents each.

2. The squirrel is a thief and had no right taking someone's property!

3. We should turn in all lost chips, taco's, nuts, etc.
Each food item has a value and is the property of those who purchased them.

Consider adding food along with all the other things that you should turn in to the police.

Cheers,
Dave.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Dave, there's value limits/criteria in each state. Like in CA, for instance, anything worth over $100.

 

[Marvin Lee]

Would if you find a coin thats 100 years old? Do I need to track the next of kin, then wait? Hah! Great Job!