Chris Greisman - 2015-05-03 11:02:39-0400 - Updated: 2015-05-03 11:02:39-0400

Went to set up my grill for the first time ever this season, I open the lid and I found this purse with other purses in it. As everyone well knows I'm not a purse carrying woman, and if I were I would not store them in my grill.
There seems to be purses from various different people here, so I'm just going to drop it off at the local police station and explain the situation. If it were just one person's purse I would try to track them down myself. I'm rather upset that my yard is being used as a staging area or dumping ground for apparently stolen goods. I'm not sure what I can do about this other than getting better fences, but that has always been a challenge for my yard.

 

 

Chris Greisman - 2015-05-03 12:02:44-0400

Tried dropping it off at local police station. They said they can't accept it here, I have to go downtown to HQ where Evidence Control is(!) OR I can go home and call 311 to report it & the (eventually) responding officer will take it & make a report.
The desk officer was frank about the low likelihood of the owners getting their property back, & suggested I try to find the owners myself if that was a concern! He said it was unlikely anyone would try to track them down, & otherwise did his best to make it seem like trying to do the right thing wasn't worth the effort.
I'll take this home & call 311 later.

I'm mentally comparing this response to the one I got a few years ago from County police. They called me, unexpectedly, while I was at work (at MICA) to ask if I knew Thomas (whom I had broken up with some time before). His wallet had been turned in at one of their precincts & the BJs club card had both our names on the account! That took a few layers of effort on their part, for a mostly empty stolen wallet. The City should at least try for similar conscientiousness, in small (stolen goods) & large (brutality) concerns.

 

Chris Greisman - 2015-05-03 17:02:23-0400

Called 311. They thought I was reporting finding looted property at first, but I explained these weren't new goods. Police arrived in 45 min., much faster than I was expecting. I explained the situation & going to the station first & what they said. The officers shook their heads, said they shouldn't have told me that. They said they'd call the station & find out why I was told that.
They took the purses & my contact info. I hope they find the owners.

 

Michael Greisman - 2015-05-11 19:07:38-0400

Glad that the responding officers had more of a clue.