Lost and Found Property

The purpose of this document is to establish a campus-wide policy for the recovery, processing, and security of lost and found items. The St. Mary’s University Police Department will serve as the repository for all lost and found items on campus. In order to facilitate a timely return of lost items, it is preferred that all items be turned over to the St. Mary’s University Police Department within 24 hours of discovery. Upon receipt of the item the University Police will process the item, attempt to locate and contact the rightful owner who can subsequently identify their property. All unclaimed property held by University Police will be disposed of pursuant to this directive.

It will be the policy of the University Police Department to make a good faith effort to locate the rightful owner of any property turned into this department.

Property turned into University Police Department will be checked for identifying information and if located the owner notified, within 24 hours. Any item left unclaimed for more than 90 days may be disposed of; either by auction, charitable donation, waste receptacle or sale, as decided by the Chief of Police or designee.

The University Police Department will maintain a list of items in lost and found that will be available for review at the University Police Department.

• All Drivers Licenses and Employee/State ID Cards not claimed within 2 weeks (14 days) will be mailed back to the issuer.
• Credit or Debit Cards not claimed at the University Police Department office within 90 days will be disposed of by rendering the card unusable/ cut or shred, and such action will be documented and recorded by card number, issuing entity and card holders name.
• All property turned in to the University Police Department lost and found will be held for 90 days prior to disposal.
• The exception will be any item found to be a health risk or in such poor condition as to render it unusable or unsafe to store. These items will still be recorded into the University Police Departments records to document the destruction.
• University Police Department will not take or store food related items or containers. These will be immediately thrown away. Food related items or containers will not be recorded in the University Police system.
• Mary’s University and the St. Mary’s University Police Department are not responsible for Lost Items that are not turned into the St. Mary’s University Police Lost and Found.
• If an item belonging to a St. Mary’s University student, faculty or staff is found off-campus and called in, the police will make an effort to locate and notify the owner. These items however, are not logged into our lost/found system unless the complainant brings the item to campus.
• The University will place orange stickers on bicycles during the month of June to warn owners that abandoned or unregistered bikes will be removed. Bikes that still have the orange sticker on them after a 2 week period or are still unregistered will be collected by University Police Department, and or Physical Plant and stored by UPD. ALL serial numbers for bicycles will be recorded through University Police Department.
• To register your bicycle, please visit the University Police Department’s online parking permit system and follow the instructions.
• After 90 days of storage, the University will hold that the item has truly been abandoned and reserves the ability to donate, sale, destroy any and all lost and found items. This is even if the owner has been identified and has just failed to make arrangements to collect their property.
• If the item is donated, sold, auctioned, etc. the item is not warrantied and is considered sold “as is”. No express claims about the condition of the object or the ability to use the object can be made by the University and the University Police. This includes any and all items including electronics.

Any proceeds from the sale or auctioning of lost and found items will be deposited into the University General Fund and these funds do not remain with the University Police Department.