garda lost seized property

cc-offe

Hi everyone, wondering what happens if the garda lose items that they have seized in a search, if a garda tells someone that the property has been mislaid but that their rights are intact than how how would someone go about getting compensated?

Mutz

What kind of property are you talking about? Legal or Illegal?

cc-offe

Laptop, nothing illegal on it, and the detective has acknowledged that they have no idea where it is? Also laptop would have been only 4 months old when seized? Also the detective in charge is a nice man, he was very apologetic that it went missing especially seeing as he didn't really want to take it in the first place but had to for an investigation, so how would someone go about being compensated in that case, bearing in mind the item was 4 months old and misplaced after 8 months?

MagicSean

cc-offe wrote: »

Laptop, nothing illegal on it, and the detective has acknowledged that they have no idea where it is? Also laptop would have been only 4 months old when seized? Also the detective in charge is a nice man, he was very apologetic that it went missing especially seeing as he didn't really want to take it in the first place but had to for an investigation, so how would someone go about being compensated in that case, bearing in mind the item was 4 months old and misplaced after 8 months?

Write to the local Super first and see what he says. They may compensate you from their local budget. If that fails you can always make a complaint to the Ombudsman.

Our man in Havana

Make an application to the district court under the police property act. That should bring an end to the situation quickly.

cc-offe

Thanks, would a letter from me be good enough or should I get my solicitor to write it? As I said I don't think I will come up against much resistance in regards to the compensation but as there doesn't appear to be any information about this on the internet i'm completely clueless as to where to begin.

I looked at the fees for the district court and I can't really make sense of them, also if I were to go down this route which district court do I apply to, the the computer was taken from where I live, the garda investigation was a different county so they were taken there

coylemj

You can only make an application under the Police Property Act if the goods still exist in the possession of the Gardai which obviously is not the case and in any event that's taking the legal route which I wouldn't do until I get no satisfaction from the local Supt. as suggested by k_mac, the local super has a cheque book and is allowed to sort out issues although obviously there is a monetary limit set by the Dept. of Justice but this option won't cost more than writing a letter and may sort things out quickly and painlessly without taking the legal route or getting the ombudsman involved, both of which will probably take months.

Just write a letter to the Superintendent, remember that not every station has a Supt. so find out what is the District Office for that station, that's Garda-speak for the station where the local Supt. operates from. Include a photocopy of the laptop receipt and obviously as much detail as possible, you do not have to use a solicitor.

Which Garda station was involved?

coylemj

Go here, click on the relevant county, then select the relevant Garda Station, it will say which district that station is in, you then write to the Supt. in the District Station

http://www.garda.ie/Stations/Default.aspx

For example, in Dublin if you selected Kill of the Grange it will tell you that it is in the Dun Laoghaire district so you'd write to the Supt. in Dun Laoghaire Garda Station

cc-offe

Ok thanks for the advice, Dreading having to look for this receipt!!

cc-offe

Can't find receipt, will have to ask in the shop I bought it in if they have a record of it, it's going back 12 months though so not looking good :mad:

cc-offe

Finally managed to get a copy of the receipt from the shop,
what would I write in this letter, just that I got confirmation from the detective that it was nowhere to be found, It was 4 months old etc etc and I would like to be reimbursed?

coylemj

Write a polite letter to the Superintendent, tell him/her the details of how & when the laptop was taken and the name of the Garda who took it from you.

Outline that it has now been lost/misplaced, name the officer who told you that it has been lost and say that as you do not expect it to turn up that you'd like to be reimbursed.

cc-offe

Thanks Coylemj, do you reckon they will reimpurse we the full amount considering it was only new? Also when the detective told me it was missing he said I know you had a lot of family photos etc that were lost, I might mention that aswell, it sounded like he was hinting at me to write that on the letter.

coylemj

I don't know if you'll get the full price that you paid and I guess it might be no harm to mention the photos though whether that will have an effect on how much you get I don't know.