Follow Jesus
Junior Member
Ohio
A few years ago I was doing volunteer work for a church, helping clear out brush and garbage that church neighbors had dumped on church property. In the brush, was a couple of professional mobile stage speakers. The speakers had a school sticker on them, they looked to be in good condition, and it almost seemed as if they were cached in the brush. I suspect perhaps a local kid stole the speakers from his/her school or a rival school, and may have stashed the speakers in the woods by the church to be less likely to be caught with stolen property. Coincidentally shortly prior to finding the speakers, the church had expressed a need for speakers. I thought that the speakers might have been a blessing to meet the church needs, though I felt morally responsible that it was my civic duty to call in the find, so that police could investigate to see if the speakers were stolen. When I was in elementary school, and when I was in Boy Scouts; the social studies/government teachers and scout leaders, told us that if we found any property estimated to be over something like $20 dollars that it was our civic duty and by law we were required to report it to police, or make a public notice in a major local newspaper, in the lost and found section. I was told depending on the state that if no one declared the property and 30 to 90 days that the police are notified or the ad was published, that the finder could make a legal claim to the property. (There was an episode of Andy Griffith that had a similar theme. Where Opie found money, but couldn't claim the property without due process.)
Anyway when I called the police, they didn't want to come out and investigate. I called them first, because I wanted to minimize the risk of damaging any evidence, like fingerprints. They told me to bring the speakers in. When I brought in the speakers, I said if they are not part of a crime, and if no one claims them; I wanted to declare them myself to donate to the church. The police officer told me, that I couldn't claim the property, that if no one else claimed it and if it wasn't related to a crime, they would be sold at police auction. So I was told if I wanted the speakers that I could only have them if no one else claimed them, and I would have to go to the police auction to buy them.
Doesn't Ohio still have a process to claim property that is found any more? Did my teachers and scoutmasters lie to me? Did Ohio ever have that law? Was the police policy legal? Seems like they are discouraging good citizens that do their civic duty. I got the impression that they were ignoring the ethics and the law, to get more loot for the police auction.
Ohio analogy.
Where I used to work at, people used to frequently abandoned cars. One of my coworkers would get the Vin number and file paperwork on the abandoned car, after something like 30 or 90 days; if no one had made a claim on the car and if there were no reports of the car stolen, that the state would let him get title(s) on the car(s).
A few years ago I was doing volunteer work for a church, helping clear out brush and garbage that church neighbors had dumped on church property. In the brush, was a couple of professional mobile stage speakers. The speakers had a school sticker on them, they looked to be in good condition, and it almost seemed as if they were cached in the brush. I suspect perhaps a local kid stole the speakers from his/her school or a rival school, and may have stashed the speakers in the woods by the church to be less likely to be caught with stolen property. Coincidentally shortly prior to finding the speakers, the church had expressed a need for speakers. I thought that the speakers might have been a blessing to meet the church needs, though I felt morally responsible that it was my civic duty to call in the find, so that police could investigate to see if the speakers were stolen. When I was in elementary school, and when I was in Boy Scouts; the social studies/government teachers and scout leaders, told us that if we found any property estimated to be over something like $20 dollars that it was our civic duty and by law we were required to report it to police, or make a public notice in a major local newspaper, in the lost and found section. I was told depending on the state that if no one declared the property and 30 to 90 days that the police are notified or the ad was published, that the finder could make a legal claim to the property. (There was an episode of Andy Griffith that had a similar theme. Where Opie found money, but couldn't claim the property without due process.)
Anyway when I called the police, they didn't want to come out and investigate. I called them first, because I wanted to minimize the risk of damaging any evidence, like fingerprints. They told me to bring the speakers in. When I brought in the speakers, I said if they are not part of a crime, and if no one claims them; I wanted to declare them myself to donate to the church. The police officer told me, that I couldn't claim the property, that if no one else claimed it and if it wasn't related to a crime, they would be sold at police auction. So I was told if I wanted the speakers that I could only have them if no one else claimed them, and I would have to go to the police auction to buy them.
Doesn't Ohio still have a process to claim property that is found any more? Did my teachers and scoutmasters lie to me? Did Ohio ever have that law? Was the police policy legal? Seems like they are discouraging good citizens that do their civic duty. I got the impression that they were ignoring the ethics and the law, to get more loot for the police auction.
Ohio analogy.
Where I used to work at, people used to frequently abandoned cars. One of my coworkers would get the Vin number and file paperwork on the abandoned car, after something like 30 or 90 days; if no one had made a claim on the car and if there were no reports of the car stolen, that the state would let him get title(s) on the car(s).
Last edited:
