# If a burglar drops something of his while burgling my home, is it mine? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 23, 2026, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-burglar-drops-something-of-his-while-burgling-my-home-is-it-mine/1030340 "2026-05-23T22:41:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2026, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-burglar-drops-something-of-his-while-burgling-my-home-is-it-mine/1030340/81 "2026-05-28T17:28:35Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > If the burglar didnt take anything of real value, the police do not want to be called out- and nor should you- depending on damage done, of course.. Say they took $20 of your stuff- do you want to spend several hundred dollars of taxpayer money on it? Does every shopkeeper want to call the police for a kid who steals a candy bar What kind of fucked up logic is this? Someone breaks into your dwelling, even if they stole nothing, it should be reported. And yes, the police want a report on it. It could be a link to a pattern of other break ins. . We have businesses here that prosecute every instance of shoplifting. Should we not show up because it’s just a candy bar? If we stopped showing up for petty crimes guess what would happen, genius. Our local matrix reveals that businesses that prosecute every instance of shoplifting have … Wait for it …less instances of shoplifting. 😯 ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2026, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-burglar-drops-something-of-his-while-burgling-my-home-is-it-mine/1030340/82 "2026-05-28T18:06:11Z")
Since the OP is asking what the _legal_ solution is to this particular problem, I’m guessing that making an assumption as to what the police want and deciding to withhold both information _and_ solid evidence, and assuming that said evidence is the personal property of the burglar, just ain’t legal. Now, if the question was “Could I get away with withholding information and keeping evidence?” my answer may be different…but it wasn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2026, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-burglar-drops-something-of-his-while-burgling-my-home-is-it-mine/1030340/83 "2026-05-28T20:09:45Z")
It was a big car, a boat, and the guy at the yard it eventually got to said they used it for sheet metal. Maybe they were frustrated it was so hard to steal. A few weeks later I saw a 60 Minutes about car theft with a segment filmed more or less exactly where my car got stolen. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2026, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-burglar-drops-something-of-his-while-burgling-my-home-is-it-mine/1030340/84 "2026-05-28T23:42:14Z")
**Moderator Note** > [@pkbites](#): > > What kind of fucked up logic is this? This is in FQ. Stick to the facts, please. > [@pkbites](#): > > guess what would happen, genius. This obviously sarcastic use of the word “genius” comes across as a personal insult. Don’t do this again outside of the Pit. I’m guessing that you did not notice what forum you were in. This is FQ (to be fair, the thread is drifting a bit out of FQ territory). Dial it back, please. ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2026, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-burglar-drops-something-of-his-while-burgling-my-home-is-it-mine/1030340/85 "2026-05-29T00:35:52Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Since the OP is asking what the _legal_ solution is to this particular problem, I’m guessing that making an assumption as to what the police want and deciding to withhold both information _and_ solid evidence, and assuming that said evidence is the personal property of the burglar, just ain’t legal. > Now, if the question was “Could I get away with withholding information and keeping evidence?” my answer may be different…but it wasn’t. It’s already been said, but in \*general, there is no affirmative duty to report a crime. The only real issue beyond that is whether and at what point the property may be considered abandoned, and that has already been discussed as well. Although I might also want to quickly peruse my jurisdiction’s statute on tampering with evidence to see if it could apply. FWIW, an essential element in my jurisdiction is “knowing that an investigation or official proceeding is pending or in progress.” If I decline to report the crime (as is might right) and have no other reason to believe an investigation is ongoing or pending, then I suppose I’d be in the clear on that point as well. But then again, it could also be committed if “knowing that an offense has been committed, alters, destroys, or conceals any record, document, or thing with intent to impair its verity, legibility, or availability as evidence in any subsequent investigation of or official proceeding related to the offense.” So I guess I’s have to be careful about that. \*Might be some specific thing exceptions, such as discovering a corpse. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2026, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-burglar-drops-something-of-his-while-burgling-my-home-is-it-mine/1030340/86 "2026-05-29T00:48:49Z")
> [@ASL\_v2.0](#): > > It’s already been said, but in \*general, there is no affirmative duty to report a crime. Many crimes, but some, like child abuse, _must_ be reported (in most if not all jurisdictions). But a victim has every right to report any crime. And in many cases, the right not to report. The victim should decide. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2026, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-burglar-drops-something-of-his-while-burgling-my-home-is-it-mine/1030340/87 "2026-05-29T00:50:21Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Many crimes, but some, like child abuse, _must_ be reported (in most if not all jurisdictions). By a certain set of people. Not everyone is a mandated reporter. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2026, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-burglar-drops-something-of-his-while-burgling-my-home-is-it-mine/1030340/88 "2026-05-29T00:56:44Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > By a certain set of people. Not everyone is a mandated reporter. Right- professionals, teachers, etc. A few crimes are said to be mandated reporting by all Citizens- treason, Immediate threats to life, that sort of thing, but i dunno how often that is enforced. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2026, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-burglar-drops-something-of-his-while-burgling-my-home-is-it-mine/1030340/89 "2026-05-29T21:26:29Z")
Several years ago, I had a Chev Blazer that was stolen. Exactly one month to the day the police recovered it. The thief had been using it as transportation. As such, it was full of their stuff. When I picked it up I asked the police what they intended to do with all of his possessions? Their response - “nothing”. They told me I could keep them if I wanted them. They asked me if I was interested in testifying against him. I did, he went to jail. ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2026, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-burglar-drops-something-of-his-while-burgling-my-home-is-it-mine/1030340/90 "2026-05-30T04:18:54Z")
As a non US few datapoints, I have found our local police always interested in even trivial attempted breakins. Some friends of mine were off overseas and I was checking in on their house occasionally. I arrived one day to find the front door mangled around the lock and a very large screwdriver on the ground. Police were quite happy to come, check everything over, we checked inside, and got a report. My friends had to get the door replaced and got a free screwdriver. Which brings to mind an assumption in the OP’s question. That the object dropped by the thief owned the object. I would bet that the screwdriver left was stolen. Similarly, I had a car stolen many years ago. It was found (my father literally walked past it in the street) a few days later abandoned in the city. Inside was a bunch of mail. Nothing that pointed to the thief, rather an indication they had been stealing other people’s mail. Again, the police were actually quite interested in that and they took it all. No way did I own the mail now. If you get burgled, and an escaping thief drops something of value, my first thought would not be, “what was his is now mine”, but rather, “who did he steal this from and how to I get it back to them?” The law most certainly does not consider a stolen item the property of the thief, and any idea that there is a direct legal pathway bestowing ownership on you is fanciful. Which is why such items go to the police and are available for other victims of the thief to reclaim. Only going to you after a suitable time if no claim is made. Which is what you would expect if it was your stuff that was stolen. Failing to disclose possession of such an object likely places you in a difficult legal position. The bad outcome is that the thief is caught, and tells the police they dropped the stolen item whilst fleeing your house. Something that will likely line up with when the object was stolen in the first place. (Such as they stole it right before breaking into your house.) Legal owner of the object is going to be pretty keen on getting it back. You do not have any claim to the stolen object. A reasonable person would suspect a dropped valuable object was itself stolen. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2026, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-burglar-drops-something-of-his-while-burgling-my-home-is-it-mine/1030340/91 "2026-05-30T13:44:26Z")
Depends on the object, I’d say. A large screwdriver is something that doesn’t cost much and is useful for breaking into houses, so it’s quite plausible that the thief might have legitimately owned it. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2026, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-burglar-drops-something-of-his-while-burgling-my-home-is-it-mine/1030340/92 "2026-05-30T15:56:29Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Depends on the object, I’d say. A large screwdriver is something that doesn’t cost much and is useful for breaking into houses, so it’s quite plausible that the thief might have legitimately owned it But if it was used to break into a dwelling or locations inside a dwelling it then became a burglarious tool. The courts in my state ruled this negates the legitimacy of possession and the plausibility that it was possessed for non-nefarious purposes goes out the window. I can’t imagine an at least semi competent LEO not taking it as evidence. Identification of material by the alleged victim is also extremely important. If the burglar dropped an item he stole from a different dwelling can the current victim ID the object as his/hers. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2026, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-burglar-drops-something-of-his-while-burgling-my-home-is-it-mine/1030340/93 "2026-05-30T16:02:55Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > But if it was used to break into a dwelling or locations inside a dwelling it then became a burglarious tool. The courts in my state ruled this negates the legitimacy of possession and the plausibility that it was possessed for non-nefarious purposes goes out the window. Sure, I’m just saying that that’s not an item I would necessarily expect was stolen. The burglar might lose legitimate ownership of it on using it for burglary, but they still likely had legitimate ownership of it before that. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2026, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-burglar-drops-something-of-his-while-burgling-my-home-is-it-mine/1030340/94 "2026-06-01T17:01:40Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > I know this varies by location, but those of you talking about “evidence” and “fingerprints” might be interested to know that, in the burglary episode I described upthread, a police officer came (hours later), took a statement, and left. They barely glanced around the scene of the crime. > > There was no evidence-gathering, no investigation, no follow-up, and no arrest. > > mmm If television crime procedurals worked this way, [Dick Wolf](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Wolf) would be some third-rate hack gamely trying to get a pilot shot… ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2026, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-burglar-drops-something-of-his-while-burgling-my-home-is-it-mine/1030340/95 "2026-06-01T17:13:35Z")
But the Coens got it right: [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/-9CynvMlFyo/hqdefault.jpg "Leads") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9CynvMlFyo) ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2026, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-burglar-drops-something-of-his-while-burgling-my-home-is-it-mine/1030340/96 "2026-06-07T23:32:42Z")
> [@Francis\_Vaughan](#): > > Which brings to mind an assumption in the OP’s question. That the object dropped by the thief owned the object. I would bet that the screwdriver left was stolen. My friend drowsily opened the door to loud knocking early one morning, to be asked by the police if he owned an axe? And did he know where it was? And – at this point, the other policeman became frustrated by the slow sleepy answers, and pulled out an axe: “Does it look like this?” ---
**Author:** ![Bobbi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9f8e36/32.png) [@Bobbi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bobbi)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2026, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-burglar-drops-something-of-his-while-burgling-my-home-is-it-mine/1030340/97 "2026-06-12T00:46:30Z")
Decades ago while I was still living at my Dads’ I was out shopping with my fiance for my engagement ring, and came home to find a guy in my walk in closet holding my 22 semi automatic, he ran off (I was stunned and just stood there, not the best genetic trait to have) and weeks later I found his wallet in the closet. I didn’t recognize him but saw the address the street behind mine. I was considering going to the house and demanding an accounting but called the sheriffs office instead. They told me “because you’re family” that the kid was arrested and some other stuff about him that they were not legally allowed to say to just any other victim. They recognized me from working in the file room at the sheriffs office but having taken law, I knew they were not allowed to disclose names or information on juveniles. I never assumed the wallet was mine, nor any part of it but handed to my co workers. ---
**Author:** ![dcbwhaley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcbwhaley/32/21437_2.png) [@dcbwhaley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dcbwhaley)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2026, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-burglar-drops-something-of-his-while-burgling-my-home-is-it-mine/1030340/98 "2026-06-28T11:30:13Z")
You generally need to report a crime to the police if you intend to make an insurance claim. In most case they just log it and give you a crime number which you give to the insurer to prove that the claim is genuine ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2026, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-burglar-drops-something-of-his-while-burgling-my-home-is-it-mine/1030340/99 "2026-06-28T19:39:32Z")
> [@dcbwhaley](#): > > You generally need to report a crime to the police if you intend to make an insurance claim. For burglary, robbery etc. But generally not for things like people breaking windows, etc. If your car has it’s window broken and some stuff stolen, your car insurance company will cover the cost of the window (less deductible), without a police report. And in general, making an insurance claim on your homeowners is something to be carefully considered. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-burglar-drops-something-of-his-while-burgling-my-home-is-it-mine/1030340.md?page=4)