Posted: 9/26/2009 5:02:11 AM EDT
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Say the local PD has recovered a pistol with the help of a Federal Agency....
Does the owner of that pistol have the right to get the pistol back or can the PD hold it as evidence as long as they wish? I am just curious as I am in this situation. Never thought about it before but can they legally hold my property if I want it back? |
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WIDELY varies, with state law and departmental policy with a little DA policy thrown in.
Bascially though in gun hating areas you have to drag it out of them if you ever see it again at all and in gun friendly areas they will be bugging the shit out of you to get it out of their property room. |
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Depends. If the firearm was used in a homicide, you'll likely never see it again. Typically, a recovered firearm is test fired for ballistic comparison to known crimes. This can take months, since the gun has to 'get in line' of whatever backlog the lab is experiencing.
After ballistics, you can petition the court to have it released back to you, assuming you haven't already been compensated by an insurance claim. Sometimes, the officer (or supervisor) who recovered it can release it to you after it comes back without a ballistics match. If it's being held as evidence against the person it was recovered from, it can take years...bureaucracies being what they are. |
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Keep an eye on this and dont back down to get your property back.
I had a Hi-Power stolen years ago and my local PD (Danbury) recovered it. I had reported it and it went into NCIC. The only way I knew it got recovered was that an ATF trace came through my fathers store for the gun. We knew a person in ATF who alerted us that Danbury initiated the trace. I went down to apply to get my pistol back and was told that they didnt have any such pistol in their evidence locker. The short story after this was the multiple Return of Property paperwork that always seemed to get "lost" even when I finally hand carried it around and turned it in. When the court case was done I was told I could not have my gun back since it was used in a crime. During all this I had a Danbury PD friend who told me off the record that a Danbury detective really liked my gun (it was a full Belgian, night sights, trigger job, stippled front strap, etc) and had applied to seize it for his personal use. The PD had already put paperwork before the court that they were eunable to find the owner and were considering the property "abandoned". It came to a head when I got a lawyer. A letter was sent to the mayor and CLEO detailing my 4 months of attempts to get my gun back and that the filing with the court was a patent lie from the property sgt and detective. They were given 72 hours to return ALL of my property to include the recovered mags or we would sue the city. Less then 24 hours after my lawyer sent the letter I got a call from the chief to come get my gun. When I picked it up I got the long apology of re: misplaced paperwork, some confusion in the property room books, etc etc. My lawyer, who came with me, point blank asked the chief if the mayor chewed his ass at which point he got very red in the face, told me to sign for my property and get out of his station. Dont bacl down- get your property back. |
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Depends. Was the gun stolen and then recovered? Areyou the victim of said theft? Was the gun recovered in a manner which may lead the police to believe it was used in a crime (anywhere)? Was it recovered in the same jurisdiction as it was stolen?
When I was the property detective for my agency I tried my hardest to never move a gun from a locker to storage. Once it got to storage it was most likely never to be seen again. If the gun was simply recovered as stolen then we would photograph it to the DA's liking and return it to the owner. If a gun was used in a crime it may take a very long time. I was one of those property room guys that wanted nothing to stay and I tried like hell to find the owner's of items we had come in to possession of. The advice above about contiually squeeking until you get greased is a good one. It is your property and they need due process to deprive you of it. Don't give up. You should find the agency who actually has possession and write them a letter stating it is your intent to reclaim your property. Then find out who the property tech is and constantly update him with changes in your life: phone, address, email, attorney's name, etc. Good luck. |
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Quoted:
If you got reimbursed for it through an insurance claim, it belongs to the insurance company and you will not get it back. A gun got stolen from my truck and was recovered after my insurance claim paid off. The insurer gave me the opportunity to buy the gun back from them, fair enough since they effectively bought it with their settlement. I declined since I was basically re-buying a gun which had been stolen, possibly used in a crime, left in a ditch, languished in a property room for 2 years, and I had already replaced it with another. The insurer sold it to a local shop. Coincidentally, the same place I originally bought it. |
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