899
ACAB (thelemmy.club)
submitted 5 days ago by to c/aboringdystopia@lemmy.world
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[–] 76 points 5 days ago (15 children)

Technically in most jurisdictions in the USA you’re supposed to make a reasonable effort to find the owner (eg asking nearby people if they dropped it) and then turn it into the police. If no one comes forward to claim it you are then entitled to it

However in a practical sense no one would do this (except maybe the ask if someone dropped it part) and the police would steal the turned in money 9.9 times out of 10

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  • [–] 52 points 5 days ago (4 children)

    For claimable property like a wallet yes. For loose money there is no obligation to do so.

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  • [–] 33 points 5 days ago (1 child)

    Technically in most jurisdictions in pedant world you’re supposed to do the Hokey Pokey first, then turn yourself around. That’s what it’s all about

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  • [–] 10 points 5 days ago

    There's penalties if the owner manages to prove ownership which is excessively difficult even with video. The law hinges on knowing to be theft and proving ownership also means proving you didn't abandon it and along with littering the fact it is abandoned when it was found is an affirmative defense, the owner would be the one to jump through hoops to prove, it's theirs and they did not abandon it.

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  • [–] 11 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 child)

    Depends on jurisdiction, obviously, but not always the case. Technically in New York any lost property with a value over $20 must be turned into police (NY Personal Property Law §§ 251–258). But as you say the ability to prove ownership of loose currency is basically nonexistent (unless you’re Mr burns in that one Simpsons episode) so prosecution is unheard of. At least, until we met our current surveillance state dystopia

    Also in NY the money is not inherently turned back to the finder. Found money goes into the city treasury unless the finder stakes a claim. But this would likely take so much time and paperwork headache that any feasible currency you would find would almost certainly not be worth the effort (maybe if you find some mafia dummy’s billfold, I guess, but then it’s approaching “wallet” territory anyway and also probably a bad idea to keep for other reasons)

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  • [–] 1 point 5 days ago

    Sorta. Theres only a penalty in New York if you know it's lost not abandoned or knowingly taking. Generally speaking the resolution for lost property finding an owner is double repayment if they can prove it's theirs and lost not abandoned which is excessively difficult to prove.

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  • [–] 18 points 5 days ago (2 children)

    It's actually not that uncommon for people to turn in lost cash if it's more than like $5. Happened fairly frequently when I worked retail/hospitality.

    Most people are decent and honest and know how they would feel if they lost a larger sum of money. Although I get keeping it if you can't reasonably ascertain what location the person who lost it was visiting. No one is going to think to check with the police for $30 they randomly dropped in the street. ****

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  • [–] 4 points 5 days ago

    One time as a kid I tried to turn in $20 (back when that meamt something) to a nearby police officer. He just looked at me funny and told me it's my lucky day and to go buy some candy or something. I did exactly that, but it tasted weird

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  • [–] 5 points 4 days ago

    There should be a minimum for that.

    Also, the first person you ask will probably say "Yes totally, I... dropped that.... Thank you kind stranger!"

    And if you turn it into the police, you're never fucking getting it back. "Sorry, we lost the paperwork" he says while his fridge at home is stocked up on all the beer you just bought him.

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  • [–] 2 points 4 days ago (1 child)

    Technically in most jurisdictions in the USA you’re supposed to make a reasonable effort to find the owner (eg asking nearby people if they dropped it)

    This makes no sense for loose money. There's no reasonable way to ID the owner. Anyone can say it's theirs.

    For a wallet, that's a different story. Even without documents you can ask them to describe how it looks and what's inside.

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  • [–] 1 point 4 days ago

    I didn’t say it was logical, just what’s written. It’s vague and technically anything with a value of over $20 is included. Currency isn’t specifically included but it’s not excluded either so things like the OP could absolutely occur and even be prosecuted with the way the law is written (at least in NY and other areas with similar statutes)

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