A glove here, a coffee mug there, a USB drive, cards and keys, an iPod, a North Face jacket — each is lost and often found daily at the Idaho Commons Information Desk, said Laura Kleffner.
Amrah Canul | Argonaut
Junior Melissa Thompson explains the process for lost-and-found items Thursday at the Student Union Building Information Desk. Thompson said the desk receives lost items every day, but after 90 days, items such as debit cards are turned over to the police, while other small items are donated.
Kleffner, a senior at UI, has worked at the info desk since her freshman year and said cold weather usually brings a rising tide of lost items.
“We get a lot of hats and scarves right now because people come in from outside and take their warm clothes off,” Kleffner said.
Her desk drawers are stuffed with old cassette tapes, lanyards, reading glasses, notebooks, single earrings and water bottles. She said most are stored at the info desk for months.
After items are turned into the desk, they stay in locked drawers for a day or two, then migrate to boxes behind the office, and after several months the boxes are transferred to the surplus storage room at the UI Facilities Office.
Info desk employees search items for identification and attempt to contact the owner if possible.
“We go through jacket pockets and USB files for a name or other ID,” Kleffner said.
She sends expensive electronics and credit cards to the Moscow Police Department next door in the Idaho Commons.
Lt. Dave Lehmitz, of the MPD Campus Division, said he and his staff have experience identifying and contacting cell phone, iPod and credit card owners.
“We get two or three cell phones a month,” Lehmitz said. “We can track those down pretty quickly if they’re unlocked.”
He looks up the names on iPods and credit cards through the UI directory.
“We walk (Vandal cards) straight over to the Dean of Students Office so they can get those back as soon as possible,” Lehmitz said.
If items remain unclaimed for more than three months, they are transferred to surplus storage where Jerry Martin, of UI Facilities, sorts them.
He said anything with food or liquid is thrown away, and some items that are not reusable join them in the trash or recycling. More valuable unclaimed items are auctioned after 30 days.
“What are you going to do with one glove, you know?” Martin said.
He said mugs and water bottles are very common, despite the regular calls he fields about wallets, jewelry and iPods.
“Not much of that makes it here,” Martin said. “… More often it’s gone than found.”
He estimated that about five people have been successfully reconnected with an item in surplus since September.
Lehmitz said he’s received 42 complaints of theft on campus since Aug. 1.
“People come in daily asking about things that haven’t been turned in,” Lehmitz said. “We take their information and contact them if it’s turned in, but that’s pretty rare. More often it’s the other way — we have the item and find them.”
At the info desk, turnaround is a little better.
Kleffner said most items are turned in and reclaimed in the same day.
“If you lose something, come to the info desk first. Check with the cops if you can. If there’s no luck, wait a week and check again, then check surplus,” she said.
Most identifiable items, such as Vandal cards, credit cards, cell phones and USB drives are reported.
“If it’s a more expensive brand, people are more likely to pocket it,” Kleffner said.
Lehmitz suggested taking immediate action when an item disappears and reporting it lost or stolen to the police.
He said it’s important to know the identification or serial number of valuable items and register electronics with IT.
He and other police officers sometimes lift laptops and backpacks from abandoned desks, leaving a business card in their place. When students arrive at the police office to retrieve their items, Lehmitz explains the importance of protecting property.
“We see it all the time,” Lehmitz said. “We tell freshman at the beginning of every year — if you get up to go to the bathroom or get a coffee, take your stuff. You might come back and that table’s empty now. It only takes five minutes.”
He recommends taking precautions such as locking dorm room doors and keeping valuables in a locked car or locker.
“Everybody on this campus walks around with backpacks,” Lehmitz said. “I don’t know that that’s not your laptop. I don’t even know that’s not your backpack.”
Martin said students should keep an inventory of what they have with them.
“It’s very easy to lose something,” Martin said. “Whether or not it was stolen is hard to say.”
Victoria Hart can be reached at [email protected]