Tucson Police are taking a proactive approach to getting owner's lost or stolen items back to them faster through its partnership with Foundrop.
Foundrop is a website where users can create a free profile, inventory their property, and if valuables go missing they can flag it and search the site to see if it was found.
Over 650,000 pieces of evidence and lost or stolen property sit in TPD's evidence section that most likely will never be returned to its owner, according to Nancy McKay-Hills, an evidence superintendent.
"I take in approximately 8,000 items a month," she said.
Foundrop's owner Shawn Tierney was a street officer for over two decades. He says most likely everyone will be a victim of theft or lose an item at some point.
"I lost my keys somewhere, so I log in to my Foundrop account, and in 15 seconds I flag it lost," he explained.
"That pushes that particular item out into the Foundrop National Law Enforcement Database and then I as an officer if someone hands me that set of keys or I just run in simple like a Google search like a Toyota key on a U of A keychain, I will see that picture and contact information from that owner."
When officers find lost or stolen property, they can search it on the website and if it matches an owner's registered property officers can notify them.
McKay-Hills says found property is kept for a minimum of 30 days before it is destroyed.
Before Foundrop, she says when there was a found item that had no serial number or any case report attached, there was no way officers could get it back to the owner.
"It is not just property it is people's memories, it is their livelihood, and that trinket that ends up on a shelf waiting for destruction may very well be a gift from a loved one that has passed away," Tierney said.
TPD says every officer has access to start registering items on Foundrop and are encouraging the community to participate and inventory their property so if it does get stolen; officers can contact the owner if found.
