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Police seized property

We understand that retrieving your property from the police can be a frustrating exercise. This article is written to help explain the main options open to you as we’re unable to advise or represent you in any specific police property matters.

If you have been arrested, your seized property may initially be listed on the Property Sheet contained in the Custody Record. On being found Not Guilty of the offence over which the property has been seized (or if proceedings are discontinued against you) the Police are obliged to return any items seized as part of their criminal investigation.

Even if you are convicted, they are still obliged to return property to you that was not relevant to the offence under investigation. However, the police will always be able to confiscate property from you that was the subject matter of the criminal investigation.

The Courts have ruled that the police cannot refuse to return any property to you on the grounds that they merely suspect that it has previously been stolen or does not belong to you, unless they can produce evidence of this.

Immediate action

The police officer with responsibility for your property is the Officer in the Case (OIC). It is to the OIC that your initial enquiries should always be addressed. It is likely that arrangements would need to be made with the OIC for you to attend the police station to collect your property. Before taking any further action you should initially attempt to make these arrangements with the OIC. Most times a simple email will work and your property return. You should also make a note of all your attempts to obtain and collect your property as they may become relevant to further action such as a complaint or legal claim.

If you have any documentary evidence of your ownership and the value of the property (such as receipts for purchase or a shop`s estimate of the replacement value) this documentation will be helpful to your claim.

Further action – Complaint against the Police

If your property is still not returned the most practical step that you can then take is to make a complaint against the police. You should in the first instance make a formal complaint about the OIC`s failure or refusal to return your property to you and describe events including your attempts to recover the property. The police Directorate of Professional Standards should investigate your complaint and hopefully that this would result in the return of the property to you. The police would most likely treat this as an “informal resolution” of your complaint.

Please note that it appears that the Metropolitan Police handle formal complaints primarily through their website www.met.police.uk where a standard complaint form is able to be completed and sent online.

An application under The Police Property Act 1897

It is also open to you to apply to the local Magistrate`s Court for the police station where you were detained (or where your property is kept) for an Order that police deliver up your property to you. You would however need to produce evidence to a Court to show that you are the rightful owner of that property. There is no legal aid available for the application and it is uncertain that the police would be ordered to pay your legal costs, giving rise to the possibility that you would spend more on any legal fees in recovering the property than the property is worth. You would be best advised to represent yourself.

Civil Court claim against the Police

The retention, loss or the disposal of your property by the police with no lawful authority may be regarded by the Law as Trespass to Goods. This could give rise to a possible civil claim against them for compensation for the loss of the property and / or the return of property.

The time limit on issuing a claim for Trespass to Goods is 6 years from the date on which the property was retained by the police. However, if the police fight the claim by denying that they have or have ever had your property, you would not only be required to prove that the police had or have lost your property but you would also have to prove that your missing property was originally yours in the first place. This can be very difficult to prove in practice, particularly if the property concerned is a sum of cash retained by the police (for instance during a police raid) which later goes missing.

Concerning motor vehicles, the nature and extent of the police`s obligations towards you to keep your vehicle pending disposal or destruction of it, can vary considerably depending on the offence alleged and the individual facts of the case. As above, you should make a note of all your communications with the police and all your attempts made to collect your vehicle.

High value property

Another problem is that if the total value of your property is under £10,000, this is classified by the courts as a “small claim” to be pursued through the Small Claims Court. Generally speaking, legal representation for you is unfeasible because your opponent is not required to pay your legal costs even if you win your case. There would be a risk that the amount you are claiming would be exceeded by your legal costs of claiming it, making your claim pointless. Again, you would be best advised to represent yourself in that situation.

In theory legal aid may be available for a “Trespass to Goods” claim (also depending on your means) if your property is worth over £5000, but as above, there remains a risk that if the other side do not agree to pay your costs, the cash value of any property you do recover may go to pay the Legal Aid Agency in financing your solicitors` work done on your behalf. This is called “the Statutory Charge”. Therefore, even if you got legal aid, you might be left no better off at the end of the case.

Before issuing court proceedings against the police, you will in any case be required to write to their solicitors setting out the nature of your claim against them and inviting them to negotiate before you actually issue a claim in court against them. The address of the Metropolitan Police Directorate of Legal Services is The Metropolitan Police, Directorate of Legal Services, 10 Lambs Conduit Street, London WC1N 3NR

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