Lost and Found Protocol

Definitions

• Found Property: Found property is property that was found by a citizen, a college employee, or a member of Public Safety, is received by the department and which will be returned to its lawful owner if said owner can be identified.
• Lost and Found property: Will be handled so that all reasonable efforts will be made to return said property to its rightful owner in an expeditious fashion and that property whose ownership cannot be established will be returned to the finder or disposed of as provided by law.
• Evidence: Will be handled with a consistent chain of custody to completely assist in the prosecution of criminal matters. The property of another person shall be safely maintained until its proper disposition.

Procedures for Found Property

When found property is brought to Campus Safety only an officer may receive said property.

Upon receipt of a complaint of found property, the officer will receive the property and use the Found Property Spreadsheet and tag said property as such.

• Found Date
• Person Turning in Property
• Purge Date
• Property Description
• Location placed
• Officer Initials

Officers shall then complete a tag as shown above and place the property in the found property locker, recording the location on the tag. If the property is too large to place in a locker, i.e., a bike, simply attach the property tag to the bike and have it stored.

Purge dates for found property are determined by value as charted below:

• The officer receiving the property is responsible for documenting the receipt in a manner appropriate to facilitate the return to the owner in a timely manner.
• If the owner of the property cannot be determined, the property will be returned to the finder within a reasonable period following the assigned release date.
• Found property that goes unclaimed and that has a value over $5.00 shall be donated to the appropriate departments and/or charities as approved by the Director of Campus Safety.