Lost property is kept in a holding room for 30 to 90 days before they are donated or auctioned off. Photo credit: Kayla Landrum
When lost and found items are turned in to the Department of Campus Safety, they don’t just stay there forever. Students have at least 90 days until the department donates the items to a private vendor, which then auctions them off and gives the proceeds to the Azusa Police Department.
The vendor, Property Room, reassures shoppers that proceeds will go back to communities and promises convenience to clients like the Department of Campus Safety.
“We haul-away your headaches and send back money,” reads the information page on their website.
The Department of Campus Safety and Azusa PD have an agreement in which the responsibility of responding to lost property belongs to the APU department.
“The law allows us to respond, so they do not have to,” said The Department of Campus Safety Lt. of Operations Jeff Joseph. “If they had responsibility, they would have to come to APU every time an item was found or reported missing. The agreement sets a parameter for the duties we assume for them. ”
Along with collecting lost property, the Campus Safety Department also confiscates bikes that are unlocked or parked in illegal spots. According to the Department of Campus Safety Investigator Liza Alderete, the department confiscated 94 bicycles from Aug. 15 to Nov. 11. Only 56 of those bicycles have been picked up by their owners, leaving 38 unclaimed bikes. The Campus Safety Department is only required to hold these bikes for a minimum of 30 days before they are donated to charity.
“We give the bikes to Boys and Girls Republic,” Alderete said. “This program teaches troubled youth how repair bikes and then they can use them to go to job interviews, or sell the bikes and raise money for their program and also”
According to Alderete, the Campus Safety Department does not donate bikes solely to Boys and Girls Republic.
“Anyone who uses the bikes to benefit the public good can have them,” she said.
To keep items from being lost or stolen, department officials suggest putting a name or ID card on valuables and registering bikes, which allows them to notify students of their found property. All property is at first held in the front office, but after eight hours is moved to a holding room. Students looking for lost or stolen property are required to describe identifying information such as the color and make. Once objects are found, owners sign a form stating they received their property.
“The big issue is students do not check lost property,” Joseph said. “We encourage students to call back and keep checking. Most people who find the property have no sense of urgency to turn it in, because it is not theirs.”