Frustrating that cities don't keep a list of valuable things people have lost.

Who knows if they even really give them to a thrift shop. With poor records like that, they could easily pocket the finds and nobody would ever know. I bet they wear nice jewelry though lol

They want your found goodies man. Never heard of 100% profit?

ETA: Check "Lostmystuff"

Finders keepers. It's great you are trying to find the owner, but you've done way more leg work than I would have.

Gauntlet said:

They want your found goodies man. Never heard of 100% profit?

ETA: Check "Lostmystuff"

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Same problem!!!

Lostmystuff.net only shows the last 90 days. Stuff that is buried in the ground is typically lost more than 90 days ago.

I can see that working for a recent drop, but 90 days just isn't enough.

But then again... this is where "abandoned" comes from. When people stop looking and give up the search, it's abandoned... *sigh*

Just once, I'd love for it to be all happy-fairy tale... LOL

Skippy

Paging Dr Tom...Paging Dr Tom-in-CA...to the emergency room STAT!

Cities and Municipalities have all sorts of 'Lost and Found' rules and regs. Which will be addressed to the grieving family in the waiting room as soon as Dr Tom gets here...

If you EVER do turn something in, you should take a picture of it and get a receipt and let them know you WILL be back in to claim it when the holding term expires...But then again, they could always SAY somebody claimed it...how could you prove otherwise? Especially when it comes to GOLD, people get all sorts of funny...So...shrug...

Heck, the Spanish Govt CLAIMED ownership to a sunken treasure ship from the 1700's recently, AFTER the salvors found it and hauled all the loot aboard of course...

Skippy SH13 said:

Same problem!!!

Lostmystuff.net only shows the last 90 days. Stuff that is buried in the ground is typically lost more than 90 days ago.

I can see that working for a recent drop, but 90 days just isn't enough.

But then again... this is where "abandoned" comes from. When people stop looking and give up the search, it's abandoned... *sigh*

Just once, I'd love for it to be all happy-fairy tale... LOL

Skippy

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Well, if you change your mind, and need a pity case to donate to, I'm available.

Jamflicker said:

Finders keepers. It's great you are trying to find the owner, but you've done way more leg work than I would have.

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Most times I don't. But women's wedding rings are kind of a soft-spot for me. Of all the rings out there to most-likely have a lot of sentiment attached, it's a lady's wedding ring.

And to find one with an anniversary band soldered to it (which actually damaged the original design, because they melted an edge to get it to "fit" against the ring). It means that ring has been around for a while. My guess, based on the design, is 20+ years.

My wife's reaction to the ring was just utter sorrow for the gal who lost it. That's when I know I need to put in some time...

Skippy

Nice to see your tax dollars hard at work!

Good on you for trying to go the extra mile to get lost items back to their owners though.

Skippy, I applaud your tactics. Nice. Maybe you could go infront of the city council sometime they have an open meeting and explain it to them so they'd understand. You're not LOOKING for lost valuables FOR People or personal greedy profit. Well, Kind of I guess. LOL. But that you would (if you have items with initials or what not) like to compare their list and locations with your items and possibly reunite owner with said lost item.? But then again, If they are so stupid (one person on the phone doesnt mean they are all like that) Maybe its not worth the effort.? Good job trying tho.

Skippy SH13 said:

Most times I don't. But women's wedding rings are kind of a soft-spot for me. Of all the rings out there to most-likely have a lot of sentiment attached, it's a lady's wedding ring.

And to find one with an anniversary band soldered to it (which actually damaged the original design, because they melted an edge to get it to "fit" against the ring). It means that ring has been around for a while. My guess, based on the design, is 20+ years.

My wife's reaction to the ring was just utter sorrow for the gal who lost it. That's when I know I need to put in some time...

Skippy

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Okay, that makes sense total sense. I hope you find her. I don't find maybe gold rings let along ones that might have sentimental value.

In my old city, when someone turned in found property, we booked it into the evidence room for safekeeping. After xx amount of time per the law, it was either released to the finder, or auctioned publicly. There was none of that shady "donated" business going on there. And as far as a list of lost items, if someone reported to us (the police) that they lost an item, we made a report documenting the event, which was searchable by simply pulling up all lost property reports. This was almost 10 years ago, one would think most towns would have some similar system if they're big enough to have a police department.

Since it is such a special ring you might see if a local TV station will do a human interest story about it without describing the ring, then if the person who lost it can call you and describe it exactly then there is a chance you might find the real owner.

Skippy SH13 said:

.... Her response. "oh. No sir, we don't keep a list, we just keep the items if people want to call in for them. But if you have a valuable item, we will keep it for a month and then donate it. But people have to call in to check." ....

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Skippy, this has come up on threads in the past. It's known as "lost & found laws" . All 50 states have them. The cutoff valuation is something like $100 to $200 for each state. If you find something over that value, you are technically required to turn it in to the police station L&F. Which ... no doubt ... is what all the guys on the beach hunting forums do with each gold ring they are posting on show & tell forums there. Right ?

If no one claims it after 30 days, you can go claim it. But there is possible "storage" fees, etc.... And I'd be skeptical of stuff getting "supposedly" claimed (they have no obligation to tell you who claimed it, d/t privacy laws).

Me thinks you were "swatting hornets nests". But ... hopefully she was oblivious to the implications. I had a brush with a city police dept. once which wasn't going quite so nicely as yours (long story)

Skippy SH13 said:

... NO. I'll look for the person myself, thanks.
...

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And here is where you, and all md'rs, are breaking the law. The law does not give the liberty to finders to attempt to repatriate. It merely says to turn it in to the police. Otherwise people would do silly things like posting a notice on a telephone pole and saying "gee, I've done my due diligence".

Skippy SH13 said:

... So... they make it REALLY hard to help connect a ring-finder with an owner, because their method is to take the ring in, and then tell you nothing...and you don't get the ring back....

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No. They're not "making it hard". All the person has to do is walk in to the police station and ask "has anyone turned in a Rolex watch" or "diamond ring", etc... If you correctly/accurately describe the item, then you get your item back. How is that "hard" ?

And you're right: They need-not-tell you anything (ie.: who it was repatriated to). Because of privacy laws.

Swinglow said:

Who knows if they even really give them to a thrift shop. With poor records like that, they could easily pocket the finds and nobody would ever know. I bet they wear nice jewelry though lol

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Swinglow, I have often thought about turning in my own wedding ring, just to "test the system" (to see if I get it back after 30 days). Because, think of it: What's to stop the person at the front counter at the police station from doing the following after 29 days:

They call their cousin Joe and say "Hey Joe, do you want a nice Rolex watch ? Come down to the station and describe a watch with the following features"

I know that sounds DASTARDLY. But THINK OF IT: What have YOU lost ? NOTHING . It was never yours to begin with. You only found it. And you turned it in knowing FULL WELL it might get claimed. So how have you been harmed ? You haven't .

Mud-puppy said:

Paging Dr Tom...Paging Dr Tom-in-CA...to the emergency room STAT! .....

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Haha, SOMEONE'S gotta be a kill-joy here, eh ?

Skippy SH13 said:

.... Stuff that is buried in the ground is typically lost more than 90 days ago....

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Skippy , after my scary brush with a police dept (long story) I took up the issue of CA lost & found laws with a lawyer. And brought up this very aspect: Ie.: that .... realistically .... no one is still looking for something 90 days, or 5 yrs. later, etc... Hence, c'mon now ... we can't REALLY be required to turn stuff in that's been lost for years. RIGHT ?

But the law gives no liberty or license for you/us to be guessing on how long an item has been at the beach, or park, etc... Otherwise people would be forever skirting the system by saying "gee I thought it was lost for years, thus had no obligation to follow the law".

And truth-be-told: Flukes happen. A zinc can be a foot deep, or an 1800's coin can be shallow, right (especially given beach erosion and fill-in, for example).

MadTownScoop said:

Skippy, I applaud your tactics. Nice. Maybe you could go infront of the city council sometime they have an open meeting and explain it to them so they'd understand. ....

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This might be "swatting hornet's nests".

I had a scary brush with a police dept. While I realize that it's "self-evident" that md'rs "find things" (the obvious implication if a cop sees an md'r on the beach). Yet if they go "connecting the dots", it could turn bad.

I hesitate to spell out my brush with a certain police dept. Nothing became of it (I "disappeared into the shadows" and am hopefully forgotten by now). But it made me think that 'the less they think of us, the better'.

I can recount the incident, but ... don't want to hijack this thread.

If the police dept released a list of lost items and where they were lost, how many detectorists would use that list to decide which park to hunt?

MadTownScoop said:

Skippy, I applaud your tactics. Nice. Maybe you could go infront of the city council sometime they have an open meeting and explain it to them so they'd understand. You're not LOOKING for lost valuables FOR People or personal greedy profit. Well, Kind of I guess. LOL. But that you would (if you have items with initials or what not) like to compare their list and locations with your items and possibly reunite owner with said lost item.? But then again, If they are so stupid (one person on the phone doesnt mean they are all like that) Maybe its not worth the effort.? Good job trying tho.

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UH HECK NO... Ain't no way I'd do that. The probability of making things MUCH MUCH WORSE are way too high to take that tactic.

If there's one thing I've learned about government in my 40+ years of life, is that most regulations aren't about rational logic. They're about how people FEEL about things. It's why lobbyists are effective. Change the feelings, change the law.

Me showing up and bringing attention to the fact that most metal detectorists are currently KEEPING objects because of the cities lousy procedures in handling lost and found items has a MUCH higher probability of causing angst along the lines of "those darn metal detectorists are a nuisance!" and then shut us down completely.

Currently, we have ordinances that are very liberal and generous toward Metal Detectorists, but they were enacted by a city council in 2009. Not even the same city council members...

Personally, I handled it by finding out the process, discussing it ONLY in the future sense. This is roughly what I said:

"If I were to find something, how could I get it back to the owner? For example, if I go to Martin's Park is there a list of objects I could be searching for to help the people who have lost things? Because I will hunt differently for different items. I typically hunt to find lost change, but if I knew, for example, that there was a wedding ring missing, it would change the way I hunted, some of the settings I use, and how carefully I detect."

Her response was to reiterate, "if you ever find anything "the best thing to do" would be to turn it in, and the city will find the owner or donate it to the thrift shop."

She even called me back and left a message to let me know that she checked with her bosses, and they agreed this was best. This wasn't one person, and I don't think she personally is stupid... I think she didn't understand what was really being asked, and she was just trying to do her job according to how she'd been told. She is simply "part of the system."

Given that there is no city "policy" telling MDers what they have to do with their finds, the last thing I wanted to do was to force their hand to MAKE a policy. The odds of a policy being built in the favor of the MDer is VERY low... for the simple reasons that laws/ordinances can really only be restrictive in nature, according to the way US laws are made. Ordinances and Laws do not "grant" permissions... only restrict them. Policies defining what MDers should do are much easier to write in a restrictive format...

At that point, I realized pushing against that wall was NOT a good idea. In fact, I called her back, really super happy in my voice and told her I was calling JUST to say "Hey, I got your message, I appreciate the call back, and loved the response. Thank you SO much for your help!"

She got all bubbly, and appreciative (I think she thought it was going to go downhill) and we both hung up happy. She got to "help" me out, and I got to not screw up MDing for everyone, simply because I wanted a definitive answer (which is a BAD idea... just leave it loose! Folks who want to turn stuff in like that, will. Folks who want to find people who lost items, will... folks who want to just MD and be left alone... will!)

I didn't rock the boat, I really just called asking what they do with finds, and she got to feel like she did a great job.

If I had pushed, I (and Tom in CA would back this, no doubt), have strong confidence I'd have been kicking a hornet's nest. Things would have VERY likely been made worse for metal detectorists across the city.

It's been my experience that when you ask a government employee to make their jobs HARDER for the sake of doing what makes sense, it doesn't usually work out in your favor. They're typically over-worked, and underpaid, already.

I'll continue to take out ads, and put my my good finds up in the public space to find the owners. That's more than the city would do for an "old" find.


Skippy

When I find an item that Might be of value I check the lost and found in the newspaper and on Craigslist. If no posts have been made in either of those I then assume that it has been lost for years and just put it away No Way I am going to turn anything that might have value over to any Government department.