Police Department

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Police Administration, Investigations, and Records can be reached at (801) 944-7100 Monday to Friday from 8AM to 5PM
Our offices are located at 1265 E Fort Union Blvd in Suite 100.  We are on the northwest corner of Ft Union Blvd and 1300 East.  Look for the flagpoles. Send us an e-mail at info@chpolice.org or FAX us at (801) 944-7105.

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Dumpster diving is the act of rummaging through the large garbage containers generally located outside businesses, apartment complexes, churches, etc., looking for items of value to the “diver.” Most often, this practice is attributed to the homeless, drug abusers, and the mentally ill; however, it has become quite popular this past year and is now considered a great resource by large numbers of people in today’s society. We are all faced with economic challenges, and some have resorted to dumpster diving as a way to find and utilize other’s excess or “waste.”

This is the case with Brian, whom I met recently after neighbors in his apartment complex reported a suspicious person digging in the complex dumpster. Brian is not homeless, drug addicted, or schizophrenic. He is a married father of four young children who is experiencing hard time. Brian has little formal education but is a skilled construction laborer. His wife is a stay-at-home mom with strong religious ties, but she is too proud to ask for help from her ward.

Brian is down on his luck and construction is slow so he has been searching through dumpsters for things that have been thrown out that are still useful, recyclable, or have economic value. He takes his discovered treasures to a local pawn shop and acquired enough money to get his pawned framing tools back. He then uses the money he earns on the occasional job to pay rent and feed his family. When Brian finishes with framing tools, it’s back to the pawn shop to exchange for his sheet-rocking tools. After finishing that part of the job, he gets a new loan to retrieve his painting compressor before it is forfeited. Paying a loan rate of 10% per month has Brian in a maze he just can’t navigate.

One day, shortly after becoming acquainted with Brian’s situation, I heard a radio call for someone to go to the dumpster in Brian’s complex. It wasn’t a neighbor complaining, it was Brian. When I arrived, Brian greeted me with an armload of files from which all the personal papers had been removed. In the bottom of one of the compartments was an envelope containing thirty $100 bills. Brian handed me the envelope full of money and said, “I sure could use this, but I know it wouldn’t be right.”

Utah law addresses these matters in Title 76-6-407. Theft of lost, mislaid, or mistakenly delivered property: A person commits theft when: (1) He obtains property of another which he knows to have been lost or mislaid. . . without taking reasonable measures to return it to the owner; . . . .

Knowing Brian’s situation and what the $3000 could mean for his family, I was amazed that he gave me the money. Who could have imagined that a man, dumpster diving out of necessity after working 12-hour days to care for his family, finds a stack of $100 bills and turns it in to the police? Did I mention this was at Christmas time? My faith in mankind is renewed.

When cases similar to this present themselves, the officer issues a receipt, attempts to identify the owner(s), then places the valuable in evidence for safe keeping for 90 days. This story has a happy ending for honesty. The owner was never located so after complying with the statutory provisions Brian was presented a check for $3000. I saw him shortly after, and he told me all of his tools are out of hock and he is taking his family on their first-ever vacation.