Investigative Skills Lost and Found Property Police College PDF

Police College INV01 INV01 Investigative Skills Lost and Found Property Introduction Lost property is property that is reported as lost to police by members of the public. Such property is often identifiable by means such a...

Police College INV01 INV01 Investigative Skills Lost and Found Property Introduction Lost property is property that is reported as lost to police by members of the public. Such property is often identifiable by means such as physical description, identifiable markings, uniqueness, quantity etc. If in the course of your duties you encounter members of the public who wish to report lost property you should advise them to contact the location where they believe the item may have been lost. PSNI will generally not record reports of lost property, as this does not help with re-uniting the owner with found items. Police guidance is for property to be retained at the site where it was found. After several days, the owner can contact police and a Niche search can be carried out if the item is one that may have been recorded, such as a mobile phone. Key Learning Point OFFICIAL [SENSITIVE] Page 3  Police College INV01 INV01 Lost passports Operation Hole is a Home Office run process to carry out immigration checks on foreign nationals who report their passports lost or stolen. In one area where the data was monitored, only 34% of people reporting lost or stolen passports could be shown to be lawfully in the UK, therefore checks on all reports would be prudent. Take the reporter’s full name, date of birth and nationality. Contact Immigration Command and Control Unit (on 03000 134 999) and ask discretely for an immigration check. If there are offences disclosed then an arrest may need to be made. If there are no offences, then ask the reporter to contact their embassy or consulate to report the loss. Found property Found property is property which is located by members of the public, including other emergency services or by police, and is not suspected of being evidential. Property is found by the public and police on a daily basis. When encountering found property, either directly or from the public, your first step should be to establish if it is evidential. At times this will be obvious, e.g. controlled drugs. At other times you may need to make some enquiries, e.g. on patrol you encounter a quantity of DVDs on the street. Your first enquiry should be to check if a recent crime has occurred in the vicinity. Evidential property can be seized and retained using legislative powers. On occasions when an item of found property subsequently becomes evidential, it should be the responsibility of the person making this decision to seize the item; e.g. if you have taken possession of an item and deposited it as found property and it is placed in storage and 5 days later another officer deems that it is stolen, that officer should at that time seize the item as evidential, not the original officer. It cannot be back dated, in that you cannot “create it” as an evidential item for the time you seized it. However you may be asked to provide a statement regarding your involvement in its possession so it is imperative that you record details of all finds in your notebook. OFFICIAL [SENSITIVE] Page 4  Police College INV01 INV01 Retaining Found Property Whilst there is no legislative power to seize and retain found property there is an expectation that police should retain property when appropriate. The storage of found property by the police is both inconvenient and costly. Retention of found property will be avoided whenever possible. Services such as Translink, airport authorities, taxi companies, etc., will have their own procedures in place for the retention and disposal of found property within the governance of their remit. At festivals and concert venues, property should be handed to the organiser of the event. In hotels, clubs, cinemas, shopping centres, or council buildings, property should be handed to a responsible person within the building. PSNI cannot accept collections of found property, as this means that it is likely never to be reunited with the owner. Finders of property will be encouraged to retain all found property except those items listed below which cannot be retained and must be passed to police. Discernment should also be used for valuable items or which are particularly significant, e.g. a sports trophy. An Investigating Officer can be appointed to make enquires. They should consider use of social media and enquires in the area in which the item was found. Found property should only be taken into police custody when it is essential for police purposes to do so. When such retained property is subsequently claimed, it will only be released from police custody on satisfactory proof of ownership. In your everyday role it is important for you to recognise when property should be retained by police and your role in that procedure. The disposal of property is governed by legislation found in the Police Property Act 1897. Found property will be retained for 28 days then disposed of, or returned to the finder (if a valuable item or cash). OFFICIAL [SENSITIVE] Page 5  Police College INV01 INV01 Property not retained by the police Some property will come into possession of police which we do not need to retain. However the property must still be logged on Niche; thereafter, such property can be disposed of at a local level. Property will not be retained by the police when it is: Of little or no value AND Unidentifiable AND The finder does not wish to retain or claim it Persons prohibited from retaining property Finders of property will be encouraged to retain it unless prohibited from doing so because they are: PSNI employees and contracted employees Of no fixed abode or not resident within Northern Ireland Property not to be retained by the finder There are certain categories of property that cannot be retained by the finder under any circumstances. Such property must be surrendered into the control of police. Property will not be retained by the finder when it is: Recorded on Niche as lost property. It is the responsibility of the officer receiving the report of found property to ensure that a check is made on Niche. If an item as described matches any property indicated as lost the found property should be taken into police possession. Identifiable: That is, property which can be linked to its owner e.g. a suitcase which contains the owners name on an attached luggage label, or an identifiable key. OFFICIAL [SENSITIVE] Page 6  Police College INV01 INV01 A classified or official document. Estimated to be of a value of £200 or more. Cash over £100. A postal order or giro warrant. A cheque, pawn ticket, lottery ticket or personal document. A premium, savings bond or savings certificate. A drug or poison: Drug will include legal and illegal drugs. A firearm, ammunition or explosive. A service uniform or piece of equipment. Suspected to be the proceeds of crime. Unlawful for the finder to retain. Any item which, in the professional judgement of the person taking the report, presents a danger either to the finder or public. Procedures when taking possession of found property When you are handed found property, whilst on duty, which must be retained, you must make an entry in your notebook in the presence of the finder and get the finder to sign it. 1. Note a description of the item, time, date and location of where the item was found. 2. Note the time, date and location of where it was handed to you. 3. You must obtain the name and address of the finder so they may be forwarded an official receipt in due course if necessary. 4. You should then take the item to the station area in which it was found and pass the item and finders details to the SEA who will log it on Niche. 5. The item will then be retained in the property transit store. 6. A receipt will be sent to the finder. When you are engaged on duty in a different police area from your normal area of duty you should follow the procedures above. If it is not practical to attend the nearest station yourself, then in exceptional circumstances you may transfer the property and finder details to an officer from that police area that will follow procedures as above. OFFICIAL [SENSITIVE] Page 7  Police College INV01 INV01 You should make a record of this and sign each other’s notebooks to reflect this. Remember these items are not evidential so will not have continuity labels. Having notebooks signed will preserve the integrity of movement. Found property handed to the police in a sealed envelope or other similar receptacle by a member of the public should always be opened and examined in the presence of the finder. Where, in exceptional circumstances, this person cannot remain while this is being carried out the property must be opened in the presence of another officer. A brief note of the facts should be made in your notebooks. In all cases this should be subject to the overriding consideration that the envelope or receptacle may be a booby-trap. Found money When handed cash by members of the public you should count the cash in an appropriate area in the presence of the finder and have them sign your notebook to confirm this. You will again count the cash in the presence of the SEA when logging it on Niche. Cash will be dealt with similarly to other found property in that it will be recorded on Niche. Its retention will differ slightly, however once deposited you will have no further dealings with it. There is an exception to counting cash in the presence of the finder and that is when circumstances are such that you wish to seize it as evidential property. The cash may be sent for forensic examination so in those circumstances the cash should only be counted in controlled conditions. Remember such seizures will be treated as seized items and will not be subject to found property procedures but seized property procedures. OFFICIAL [SENSITIVE] Page 8