Many college students lose valued possessions such as flash drives and cell phones on campus, and Salt Lake Community College has locations at each campus for such lost items.
According to Edward Benson, SLCC Surplus’ fleet & logistics coordinator, all campus locations follow the same guidelines for lost and found items.
“Due respect,” Benson says, “when it comes to handling student personal property, every item is considered valuable.”
When the item is turned in, it is documented by the person who found the item, and an SLCC staff member signs it into custody.
SLCC staff makes an effort to locate the rightful owner of the lost item, and the items are safeguarded by the staff members that hold them. Each receiving site has a locked space where the lost personal property is kept, and access to these spaces is limited.
The item is held for a minimum of two weeks at that location before being picked up by the SLCC Surplus department which collects lost items at weekly, bi-weekly, and monthly intervals, depending on location.
Once at SLCC Surplus, they hold the lost personal property for another thirty days, while making additional effort to return the items to their rightful owner.
After thirty days the lost items become SLCC campus property, and the items are sold as surplus.
“Any items that do not get sold as surplus gets recycled, and never thrown away,” said Benson. “The college does not try to make a profit from the sale of lost items. Lost items are often sold for extremely less than what they are worth, such as a cell phone for only one dollar.”
Some items, such as IDs, are turned over to Campus Police along with items that may have been used to commit a crime, such as illegal drugs or weapons. Lost animals are turned over to the local Animal Control Department.
