Ask a Cop: Lost or Found Something Around Mountain View? Contact the Police.

Is there anything you have ever wanted to know from the Mountain View Police Department? Well, this is your chance to ask.

Whether you have a question about certain laws and how they might affect you, your family or friends, or how to stay safe in certain situations, we want you to ask them. We will run the question(s) and give some answer(s). To submit a question, leave a comment below or email mountainview@patch.com.

Here are some "lost and found" questions answered by Lt. Chris Hsiung.

Question: How does the lost and found work at the police department? If I've lost something, should I call the police department to report it missing? What if you've found something—how long do you hold on to it? Are lots of things lost and found in Mountain View?

Answer: Items that are turned into the police department or found by officers are booked as “Found Property” in the station. If someone has lost a property item they can call our Property & Evidence unit at 650-903-6375 or email Jennifer.lee@mountainview.gov to see if it has been turned in. Lost items can be reported online at http://www.mountainview.gov/city_hall/police/crime_prevention/report_a_crime_or_incident.asp. In the near future, we will be posting photos of found property on our department Pinterest found property board at http://pinterest.com/mountainviewpd/ (stay tuned!).

(This portion answer added on April 7, 2013.) Items found at a City Park usually go to the Parks Dept where they attempt to find an owner. If none can be found, they give the items to us. We also attempt to locate an owner if there is any owner information available. Per state law, we hold the items for 90 days at which time they are destroyed or sold at auction if they have any value.

On average, we get about 20-25 items of found property per month. Not all of those items are things turned in to us, some are items found by officers on the street. Of that 20-25 items, only about 2-3 items are actually reunited with their owner.

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