Loveland Police Offer Residents Chance to Reclaim Lost Valuables
Loveland Police Department's Property and Evidence team processes hundreds of lost items weekly, from cellphones and bicycles to power tools and urns, as officers work to reunite owners with belongings recovered across the city.
The department announced November 1 that residents who recently lost property or had items stolen should call the nonemergency line at 970-667-2151 to file a report and obtain a case number. Once a case is created, residents can contact the Property team at [email protected] to check whether their items have been located within the past 30 days.
The department emphasized the email address is not for filing new incident reports but only for tracking items that may have been recovered.
"Each week, our Property and Evidence team sorts through a flood of new submissions—everything from cellphones (usually more than one) to a herd of bicycles, including the occasional tandem bike," the department stated. "Power tools show up, wallets without IDs, and even the rare urn or two, sometimes with ashes inside."
Legal Holding Periods Governed by State and Municipal Law
Colorado Revised Statutes authorize municipalities to establish ordinances governing unclaimed personal property management. The City of Loveland holds items for legally required periods before they may be donated, auctioned or destroyed, according to municipal code.
Different retention periods typically apply based on item category. Electronics and bicycles are often held 60 to 90 days, while personal effects like wallets usually remain in storage for 60 days. Stray animals follow separate protocols requiring a minimum five-day hold before transfer to animal welfare organizations.
The Property and Evidence team logs, tags and photographs recovered items upon intake, then attempts to contact owners when identification is reasonably known. Items remaining unclaimed after the holding period may be donated to charitable organizations, auctioned if valuable, or destroyed if unusable or hazardous.
Regional police departments including Fort Collins and Greeley follow similar protocols, with intake volumes ranging from hundreds to several thousand items annually depending on city population. Loveland's system aligns with practices across Northern Colorado jurisdictions that maintain secure storage facilities with tracked access and environmental controls for evidence preservation.
Multi-Channel Reporting System Connects Residents With Property
The department conducts community outreach on property security and provides multiple channels for reporting lost items. Residents may initiate cases through the nonemergency phone line, which typically results in 1 to 2 day response times for lost property reports, or submit inquiries via email with descriptions and photos to aid identification.
The reporting process matches protocols used by neighboring cities that offer multi-channel systems for residents seeking to recover belongings.
Residents who have lost pets can search databases maintained by NOCO Humane, which processes thousands of stray animal intakes annually across Larimer and Weld counties. The organization partners with local law enforcement on animal recovery efforts.
Contact the Loveland Police Department at 970-667-2151 for nonemergency assistance or email [email protected] to check on recently recovered items.