PROPERTY HELD BY THE DEPARTMENT
I need to get my property that is being held at BPD. How do I do that?
Evidence and property is stored in a secure location at the Police Department and can only be accessed by a very few people. This security policy prevents the inadvertent removal or destruction of property or evidence. The number of employees authorized to access property is VERY limited for security reasons. The personnel who do have access also have a variety of other duties including their core responsibilities of crime scene and evidence processing.
Property or evidence held by the Department can be retrieved during specified hours – Monday through Friday 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. by stopping at the station. Additionally, you may make other arrangements to retrieve property or have it delivered to you by appointment. This can be done by e-mailing the Identification Unit at property@bpdvt.org. We will need as much information as possible including your name, incident number, officer, property tag number, and property description to help facilitate quick return of your items. Please allow up to 72 hours for a response to your e-mail.
Please note that due to space limitations general, non-evidentiary property is held for only 30 days prior to disposal. This is pursuant to City Ordinance.
Also please note that we are unable to return property to citizens who find an item and bring it in to be returned to its owner – even if the owner does not claim it.
MAILING PROPERTY BACK TO YOU – OPTIONS:
Be sure to contact the Property Section FIRST to make sure the items are at the BPD and are available to be released.
1) If you have a FedEx account, contact* the property section at BPD with your account number and address to have the item sent back at your expense.
You can set up an account at Fedex.com or go to a storefront location.
2) If you are using UPS, you would need to set up an account, (if you don't already have one) and e-mail* a ship to/return label to us. We would then package up your property and send it out whenever UPS was back here again. (We don't have a UPS account, so we can't call for a pick-up).
3) You could mail us a pre-paid envelope or label from the USPS, AFTER contacting* us to get an approximate weight on the item. You'd then need to go to the post office and mail the envelope/label to us. If the item is something that would fit in a 9x12 envelope, or around that size, we could mail it out, but anything bigger, it should go FedEx or UPS.
*E-mail – property@bpdvt.org
