Police send unpleasant email

[Mr.T]

Just for giggles and grins (and because its Wednesday) run an ad on Craigs List stating you are looking for the owner of a breifcase full of $100 bills...and watch the local police and FBI clammer over you like flies on stink.

Or a bale of cocaine. Turn your living room into Scarface for the afternoon!

 

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[Woodland Detectors]

"Hello,

I am with the _______________ Police Department. I work with the Evidence and Property Division. We did have a report of a pair of glasses lost in a blk case, flat on top and oval on the bottom.

Please let me know if they may be the same. We also have an eyeglass and key box at the PD which is open 24 hrs to drop items off that may have been found.
With the use of a metal detector I'm sure you find a few things. What would be helpful is that you turn in those items in to us and you sign for them so that after the 90 days waiting period passess, and if there are no claims it would alleviate any mis appropriation of found property situations.

We get many reports of items lost on the beach.

Thanks for your help in advance"






I don't see anything insulting in the officer's response. It's possible, that the glasses may be "key" in a sensitive case they didn't want leaked out yet.. Who know's?

 

[McKinney_5900]

99.9 % of police are honest, there are dishonest people in every profession.....

As far as lost and found, if there is no engraving or discribable marks, there is no way for someone to prove the lost item is theirs. My ex use to work for JC Penny jewelry department, the same ring is ordered in lots, just because Jane Doe lost a 1/2 carrot diamond ring at South Beach doesn't mean the one you found is the one she lost.

You want to be able to recover your jewelry, if lost, engrave it.

As much as I despise police...and 99.9 % are NOT honest (lol)..I will say here that without them..the monkeys on the 'locked up' TV series would be running the country. So..I defer to our need to have them.

Regardless, 'finders keepers' is the law I abide by. And I also believe that 75% of all police would agree...just keep it and keep your mouth shut... you didn't steal it. So go quietly and enjoy ...

"And I also believe that 75% of all police would agree...just keep it and keep your mouth shut... you didn't steal it. So go quietly and enjoy ..."

I agree. Cops are just people, and I have had some cops as friends who I feel would tell me any you the same thing. martin

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Wow, someone dredged up a post from the way-past, eh?

4-H, you must not have read the body of the post, as it evolved: The harsh part was NOT this little individual item, but rather, the broader implications, that ...... when you read it slowly ... clearly show that they (she) show me that the law says that all such valuables are to be turned in to the police. And upon inspection of where she's getting that, it is clear, that this is the law. And similar laws exist in every state, btw. So we are ALL breaking the law, everytime we keep something over a stated value ($100, in our particular state's case). Thus, the email points out to me, that I shouldn't be posting found ads, but should, in compliance with the law, have stuck it in their night-box @ the door slot there at the police station.

So, as you can see, I bet if you asked her "what about rings?", the answer would be the same law. Thus, we are all rogue law breakers. THAT was the disturbing part. Read, and you will see.

 

[LandStar]

I think in are field of MD'ING that we need to as a group vote someone into office or start take up collections to have or make up a special rights group that supports what we do!its time for us the law abiding citizens to put an end to all this horsesh@t! things need to change and if we come together as a whole we can push for laws to be changed.i know it takes money because that's what are gov. is all about special interests groups do this all the time and in MY HONEST OPINION IT IS TIME!!!!!!!!!!! WE ARE THE GOVERNMENT OF THE PEOPLE FOR THE PEOPLE!

We have a group called FMDAC that lobbies for our rights...
Please join

HH,

 

[Tnmountains]

Boy this is an old topic.

 

[Mi$$ouri Jim]

Most places have laws regarding lost items of a certain value. Some you have to advertise yourself in a local paper for a certain amount of time before you can consider keeping it. Some require you turn it into the police. I remember an old story from a jefferson city, MO newspaper where a woman found what appeared to be a couple of gold ingots buried in her yard. She was instructed to put an ad in the paper for so many months before she could keep them. Turned out to be they were fake.

Quite frankly.... I really dont trust the police with anything valuable being handed in. IMO it will either end up being auctioned off at a police auction or disappear into someone's pocket. As you can see I am very cynical.

There was a recent news story about a woman who found a wallet. Contacted the police about it & they wanted her to turn it over to them. SHe didnt trust them from an earlier incident about a stolen purse. The police came to her house & arrested her. http://trib.com/news/local/article_927a17a4-5a63-501a-9d4f-82fb41fac9c6.html

 

[FarmerChick]

it is nice you placed a "found" ad but I wouldn't personally have done that.

I go by the rule of if I find it in a public area then it goes in my pocket also like another poster.

the police womans email was pleasant, but it implied you should be submitting all your finds to them to personally do what with they wish, until the 90 days is up and you apparently get it back.

Only thing I would return is if someone asks and I have it in my pocket lol

like one time beach hunting while on vacation a man came up to me and said, did you by any chance find a ring with a blue football on it, my son lost it this morning and is so sad....I would have given it to him if I had it, but I showed him my pocket of loose change found and it sure wasn't in that little bag.


I dug up prescription glasses on the beach, and boy I had to dig deep to get them...lol....after finishing my hunt, I stop by the trash barrel and unload my junk I hauled...and yup, the eyeglasses went in the trash along with my pulltabls and more garbage lol

this was an interesting thread to read

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Wow, missouri-jim, you brought up an old topic

You say: "As you can see I am very cynical." Well yes, perhaps, but you are also "very breaking the law" too I suspect we will all continue to see rings, and other goodies posted daily on the finds-bragging forums on the various md'ing websites, and no one will continue to care.

And thanx for the interesting reading on that link. The end-result of that story, is that her "error" was in her "obstruction of police", or whatever. But her lawyers try to insist that she is doing nothing wrong. Either:

1) that state has no lost & found laws (ie.: "turn in valuables to the police"), or...

2) the cash value of the contents (and intrinsic value of the wallet itself) must've fallen below the criteria of value benchmark (maybe it just had $20 inside, or whatever), but was more of a convenience issue, for the owner to not have to go through hoops of replacing wallet-contents (license, credit cards, photos, phone #'s, etc...).

So it's not completely analogous to our jewelry finds, that do in fact often exceed stated values, but interesting reading none-the-less.

Hey everyone:

Let's get a handful of us, from different geographic locales, to test the theory of the "dissapearing" lost & found items theory (ie.: is there any corruption at police dept's lost & found dept): Let's each take a standard gold band from our collection of finds (one that you are willing to gamble with, that won't break you if you loose). And one that you are absolutely certain couldn't possibly be "claimed". For example, one you found multiple states away from you, multiple year's earlier. Pick one that has unique identifying features. Like: specific initials on the inside, a marriage date inscription, or whatever. Next, walk in to the police dept, wherever you live, and tell them you "found it at such & such location, and realize it exceeds the given value of the lost & found statutes in your state". Tell them that, according to the law, it sounds like you will get the item to keep, if no one comes forward to claim it, after 30 or whatever days.

I wonder how many of us, who would do this experiment, would actually get the item back? Any takers?

 

[Mi$$ouri Jim]

Hey everyone:

Let's get a handful of us, from different geographic locales, to test the theory of the "dissapearing" lost & found items theory (ie.: is there any corruption at police dept's lost & found dept): Let's each take a standard gold band from our collection of finds (one that you are willing to gamble with, that won't break you if you loose). And one that you are absolutely certain couldn't possibly be "claimed". For example, one you found multiple states away from you, multiple year's earlier. Pick one that has unique identifying features. Like: specific initials on the inside, a marriage date inscription, or whatever. Next, walk in to the police dept, wherever you live, and tell them you "found it at such & such location, and realize it exceeds the given value of the lost & found statutes in your state". Tell them that, according to the law, it sounds like you will get the item to keep, if no one comes forward to claim it, after 30 or whatever days.

I wonder how many of us, who would do this experiment, would actually get the item back? Any takers?

Would also be interesting to have someone come in to claim it. Just to see if the police actually give it back to them.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Jim. Good angle on that After 29 days, have a buddy go in ...... and perfectly describe the inscription and location, and see if the buddy will get it

While I know this sounds abhorant, and I know people think that only the lowest-down rotten police dept. could do such a thing, you have to remember: To the clerk who's receiving this, in his/her mind, you only "found" it. It's not "yours". It's "lost and gone, so why should you care, or ever know anything?". And you gave it to them, with full knowledge that someone may in fact claim it. So in their mind, what do YOU care if someone comes in to claim it? Afterall, it was never yours to begin with, eh?

 

[dogpound]

well after reading this entire thread i guess i'm glad i don't post my valuable finds and i'll just stick with this motto........... [img=http://s4.postimage.org/21a9v75r8/PB100030.jpg]

 

[beancounter]

I have not found anything of any significant value to anyone so I have not had to wrestle with this kind of dilemma. Friends of mine who have "lost" rings or anything of value have insurance and they have put in claims for it. If they get paid by the insurance company they no longer look for a lost item. Most of the time it is not where they thought they lost it and it shows up in their dryer or something, one person I know fired her housekeeper and accused her of stealing her ring only to find it two years later in a drawer. She got the insurance money for it so she gave the new ring she bought with the money to her daughter.
I don't think the police would actively seek you out to give back an item you left with them, you have to go to them and even then it may have 'disappeared" but it was never truly yours in the first place so you are really not out anything. The universe will repay your honesty as a reward with something bigger that you can keep.
Often when I am out detecting kids come around and want to know what I am doing, I explain it they stick around and any money I find while they are with me I give to them, the reward is seeing a kid experiencing a real "treasure hunt, just like pirates" they say. It is not uncommon to have a little group roaming with me for a little while. even finding money kids get boared easy if it is not fast enough.

 

[FarmerChick]

well after reading this entire thread i guess i'm glad i don't post my valuable finds and i'll just stick with this motto........... [img=http://s4.postimage.org/21a9v75r8/PB100030.jpg]

LOL I like that!

 

[PKennett]

NO govt is legitimate.

I served in Pakistan all of 2008. Trust me, you don't want to down the "No Government" road.

I think the request was polite and useful. If I find anything that I know someone just lost and would want back, such as eyeglasses, I would have no heartburn bringing them to the Police.

Peter