Found money

If you find one, take $20 out, buy an express post bag from the post office. Write the address from the ID on the front. Dump the wallet, change and the receipt into the bag. seal it and post it. problem solved

When I lost my wallet 5 or so years ago, it was dropped in a post box (sans cash) and I got a call from the depot in Fyshwick on Monday morning telling me I could come and get it. Apparently it is quite common for that to happen.

I once found a wallet, and checked for ID in it. Found a drivers license. I had to drive right past the suburn later that day, so I just knocked on the door and handed it in. The guy said tahnks, end of story.

It had all of 20 bucks in it anyway.

Trashed in Garema Place a few years back (actually a lot of years back, Heaven was still open), found a wallet in the gutter. Before I knew what I was doing I was inside the old cop-shopfront handing it in. Copper looked at me funny. There was $500 in it and I was so loaded I could barely sign the form he put in front of me.

Lost my own wallet a week later. Mailed back to me anonymously, around $200 cash intact.

Don’t believe in karma, but I came close that day.

Not sure what the law was in this sitch, but in the 1980s an ANU student named Lisa who was working at Revolve found five thousand dollars at the dump. She expected to be able to hand it to police and then claim the money after three months if the owner didn’t front- but Revolve kept the cash, apparently quite legally, from the get-go. I’m not sure that it was even handed to police at all. Lisa was understandably pretty pi**ed off.

About 10 or so years ago when I worked in Civic, I got a call from my dad asking me to go pick up his wallet that he’d dropped in Garema place and had been handed in to the police shopfront nearby. The shopfront had called him, but was told to go to the City Watchhouse to pick it up, as it would be transferred there.

I went over and got it & signed for it, but when I got home my father was surprised to find there was no cash inside, despite being told earlier by the shopfront that there had been $80 in it when handed in.

The missing $80 was not worth pursuing in the circumstances, but it was revealing that a random Canberra citizen was more honest than the police officer who had trousered the cash somewhere between the shopfront and watchhouse.

This rang a bell. An Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity report last year said:

“22. The constable made other admissions, namely that he had:
(a) retained for himself some property (of minor value) that he had found while on duty, despite that he knew of his obligation to register and deposit the property;”.

It doesn’t say what the property of “minor value” was or what it was worth. But it suggests that, yes, someone in the AFP was silly enough to risk his career and reputation by taking something trivial. It should not, of course, be taken as suggesting that all police, many police, most police or more than a handful of police would be dishonest in this way.

So you’re saying police officers don’t ever commit petty crimes? Fair enough.

basketcase said :

I am not sure this would work. A child found a $50 note and grand-ma took him to the police station to hand it in. Three months later she took him back, and while the kid was happy with “its been claimed” the lack of detail or transparency left a feeling that an act of dishonesty had been perpetrated.

Can’t prove it one way or the other, but it leaves forever, a view of the police that is probably not representative of them in general.

So your saying a Police officer stole the money, risked their career for a total of $50? Fair enough.

buzz819 said :

Hi, I believe what you should do is take it to the Police station and hand it in.

If after three months they haven’t found an owner I beleive it is yours.

Yes. I found a phone and wallet with money a year or so ago and took it to a police station. It would have been easy for them to find the owner since there was a school id in the wallet and “dad”‘s number was in the phone (the policeman checked that while I was there). I had to fill out a form detailing where I found it, and there was an option where I could claim it if the owner wasn’t found. I didn’t bother since I figured that wasn’t going to happen. I can’t remember what the time period was they would keep it for.

This also means if you lose something of value, it’s worth checking with the police to see if it’s been handed in.