#dammitkansas
2 Likes
I think in most jurisdictions they technically don’t need them to; I am a lawyer, but not a criminal lawyer (in any sense 
) so take what I say with a grain of salt. The other party in a criminal case is the state, not the victim, and it is ultimately thw state’s (i.e. prosecutor’s) decision whether to move forward.
3 Likes
ETA: it’s a clip from trailer park boys that is on point to the quoted comment, I can’t figure out how to make it show a preview.
Lol! Im at 119th and Metcalf
That assumes, of course, that you’re trying to fight the ticket.
If you’re just trying to save money (or “demerit points” or whatever), it can be useful. You effectively plead guilty to a lesser charge, which can reduce the penalty and maybe look better to insurance, etc. and save you the time.
1 Like
Correct.
Conversely I had a friend “lose” her cellphone at a club. It was returned the next day when someone “found” it outside the club in the snow. She and her husband are photographers, later while going through the night’s photos they saw the nice man who returned the phone palming the device inside the club in a series of photos they took.
1 Like
I guess I got lucky; I was going over to a friend’s place about a couple four months ago, and we saw a phone lying in the street. I scooped it up, figuring I’d figure out who it belonged to, and arrange to return it to them. Surprisingly it rang- the owner had borrowed their friends phone and called it, and after a tiny amount of back and forth with location, got it back to them. they were grateful, at least.
But then, too, I’m male, white, and therefore privileged.
1 Like
Thank to David Sedaris, I’ve heard of the concept of “theft by finding”:
Also, this concept of perhaps not seeking out the police reminds me of this story Scottish crime writer Ian Rankin’s been telling for years, abut the writing of his first crime novel (he’s a very entertaining speaker; worth hearing even if you’ve never read his books):
https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9759172
HANSEN: You knew nothing about crime novels. How did you get the police stuff right, the procedural stuff right?
RANKIN: So basically, I became a suspect. They thought I’d done it, and I was coming in to play games with them. So I became a suspect in a missing person’s case, which became a murder inquiry. So that was my first attempt at research into the police. And after that, I stayed away from them for quite some time.
1 Like
“Theft by finding” is a crime. If you find some item and make no reasonable attempt to reunite it with its owner, and instead take it as your own, that can get you in trouble. There’s no such thing as “finders keepers” unless the effort was made and failed.
That is probably not the US, as white-tail deer are rapidly becoming a nuisance species, especially in suburbia. Wonder if the processing place would let you put up a sign saying: Got Deer (and don’t want it)? I’ll pay your processing fees and take the venison.
2 Likes
If you find something and ignore it and keep walking, are you some sort of accomplice to theft?
What if you realize someone is holding something improperly and is in danger of dropping it off the side of an ocean liner and you fail to warn them and they do, in fact, drop it into the sea?
I asked about that. Not allowed.
And yes, it was the US. The fear of wild game being overhunted commercially goes way back I gather.
ETA: I have not found the details yet, but American whitetail deer were once endangered because of over hunting. After which time, licenses were implemented.
Found one:
1 Like
Good Lord. After reading this thread I think I’ve come to the realization I need to turn myself in.
When I was a wee lad I came up with a brilliant strategy for skimming petty cash from my parents’ bedroom. I’d hide it somewhere else in their room and if it was still there when I returned a week later then I considered it lost and subject to the iron-clad finders keepers rule.
2 Likes
Here in Germany it is theft only if you take some stuff with premeditation and intent to keep it or to pass it on to a third party. Therefore if you happen to find a mobile phone in the street and give it to the police at your convenience or return it to the owner (even after they phoned you on it to ask for it back), you won’t be liable for theft.
Sorry to brag, but everything is bigger and better in Switzerland: https://lenews.ch/2016/12/20/someone-found-50000-francs-outside-a-train-station-and-handed-it-in-to-the-police/
1 Like
That’s even closer to where I work… I better stop taking, before I doc myself…
Yeah they are pretty strict about that. You can’t even harvest a deer on someone else’s tag.
1 Like
That is according to the article also the case in the US (it certainly is in the UK). The issue here seems to have been that the police didn’t fully believe the finder did not take it with the intent to keep it.
And the moral of this story is; if you find anything traceable/locatable while you are out, don’t take it home, and if it’s electronic, pull out its battery and drop it in a bin.
