Hundreds of items stack up every year in WSU Police’s lost and found with most left unclaimed.

Among glasses, phones, wallets and watches sometimes lies some unique items, said Deanne Anderson, WSU Police Evidence and Technical Department property and evidence custodian.

None more unique, she said, than a recent item brought in from Spokane: an ATV.

“This is definitely an unusual item,” she said. “We get bicycles sometimes, but this is our first motorized vehicle.”

She said the ATV had been in Spokane for months. Not knowing what to do with it, she said Spokane Police brought it to Pullman.

As required by law, police put in an ad for the ATV for two weeks and will keep it for another 60 days said Shannon Normandin, WSU Police Records Specialist.
If left unclaimed, the ATV would be put up for sale at the surplus store, she said.

Anderson said though they have strict regulations to ensure items return to owners, departments on campus, who each have their own lost and founds, don’t have the same rules.

Because of this, many items are kept in boxes at departments with only the high-value items being turned into police regularly, she said.

However, she said many departments turn in the rest of items at the end of the semester to police, causing a large influx.

If items have some form of identification on them such as a phone or wallet, they are required to try to track the person down, often replying to texts and making phone calls with the person’s phone.

“We do what we can,” Anderson said.

However, Normandin said with items like headphones, there is no way of finding their owner.

They highly encourage those who lost items to first go to the department’s lost and found. A full list of the lost and found locations are on the WSU Police website.
If the item is not there, Anderson says to call police and give as much information as possibly to help police identify the specific item. If they do not have the item, they will keep a log of it and will notify you if they receive that item.