Property Seized for Officer's Personal Use
Fairly simple problem. In New York state, a police officer seized my property for his personal use. He didn't report it to his department as seized. He didn't actually tell me he was taking it; he merely grabbed an item that I had on my person, held it for about half an hour, and returned it to me less one of its vital components, the loss of which I observed immediately thereafter. His department later confirmed that he reported no property had been seized from me.
Now I want my property back.
How do I go about getting that? In the event that the item is not easily replaceable, how can I compel him to say what he did with it so that it can be tracked down, assuming it hasn't been destroyed or disposed of already?
Re: Property Seized for Officer's Personal Use
You've complained to his department, so what was the outcome of their investigation?
How can you compel the officer to admit to taking some mysterious element of some mysterious item? Um... ya got me.
Re: Property Seized for Officer's Personal Use
There was no real investigation. Police don't investigate each other; they typically consider themselves above the law.
The "investigation" consisted of internal affairs asking the officer if he'd seized any property, and then telling me that the officer in question had said he didn't. They weren't interested in the videotape of the officer making the seizure.
I'm asking what I can do to get my property back, or compensation in the event that I can't.
Re: Property Seized for Officer's Personal Use
You can take the officer to civil court, prove your case, and ask that you be compensated for the property.
Re: Property Seized for Officer's Personal Use
Quote:
Quoting
aardvarc
You can take the officer to civil court, prove your case, and ask that you be compensated for the property.
Thanks for the advice. Because of the theft, combined with the unlawful stop and search, I filed a civil case and recently won $10,000.
Sorry about the necropost; legal processes are slow and it can take over a year to reach resolution.
Re: Property Seized for Officer's Personal Use
Nothing necro about an update. Congrats on prevailing.