Minor ethical dilemma- What should I do?

[FredaFrogspawn]

I found some sunglasses where we were sitting while in a big busy London park with DGC - they played with them for a bit and we hung out in that spot for a while (maybe 45 minutes- 1 hour). I took them home as no one came back for them and I thought they were fairly cheap. I am not at all into fashion and am clueless about things like this, having never bought sunglasses for more then a tenner myself.

I have just googled them and they’re £185. I feel bad for whoever lost them.

What would you do in this situation?

I think it was wrong of you to take them in the first place and you should have left them in case the owner came back to look

Yes, on reflection I should have left them.

@Flappergasted

So you stole some sunglasses that clear3dudnt belong to you? Do you understand the term theft by finding? It's theft. They aren't yours. You stole them. Hope you can sleep at night. You should have left them where they were.

OP if you hadn’t picked them up someone else surely would have and I can tell you didn’t do it in a theft kind of way Not something I’d do myself as I’d be too worried about “where they’ve been” , I’m scared of germs 😂 😔

You should really have left them there but given that you didn't, you are unlikely to find the owner now. The big London parks don't have time to faff about with lost property, and since the visitors come from all over the place, a local group is not likely to yield results. The best thing to do would be to donate them to a charity shop at this point.

Op I wouldn't beat yourself up about it. From your earlier post I suspect if you could hand them in to the police you would. I also suspect your actions weren't in any way malicious or intending to steal. I think some of the pp need to calm themselves.

You've emailed the park wardens, I'd wait and see what they come back with and if you've no joy perhaps keep them or give them to a charity shop (though tell them how much they're worth so they don't flog them for £1.50!)

A charity shop isn’t going to want to handle stolen goods. It’s theft by finding. You need to hand them in to a police station that handles lost property (the met for example list which will on their website). Don’t forget there was that case not so long ago where someone was prosecuted for finding and keeping a something like a ten pound note. Do the right thing - hand them in.

I also wouldn't let my children play with some random property clearly belonging to someone else (I already thought this wasn't right before reading you took it home). I'd tell them to leave it where it is because it belongs to someone, not them.

If it's something I have to pick up for safe keeping, say a wallet, I'd let them know what I'm doing. Check if it has ID inside and try to contact the owner (At this point, I can take it home to contact later if there's no way to do so then). But if there's no ID or contact information, I'd either take it to the nearest police station or leave it there for the owner to hopefully find.

It would be nice for children to learn this early and not think they should take what isn't theirs and play with it/take it home for no reason at all.

Holy shit. My local Scope is handling stolen goods because I STOLE a pair of sunglasses from a park bench.

Jesus 🤣 "handling stolen goods" don't be ridiculous.

"I wouldn't feel bad for someone who has £185 spare to spend on sunglasses." Why? Who knows it was "spare" - could be a gift. My sunglasses are prescription and were £285. Don't I deserve them? Nice to know you wouldn't give a crap if someone took them

I’ve just been on the Met police website and they have a section for ‘I have found something’ so I will follow that. It splits it into - is the item valuable or is it low value. If it’s low value they tel you to dispose of it yourself. To me they are high value - so I should be able to take them in if the park rangers don’t come back to me.

Theft by finding isn’t about not removing an item from the place you found it but by not making a reasonable attempt to get it back to its owner. If it was cash you found, wouldn’t you pick it up and try to find owner (which is what I am doing). If I was a thief I wouldn’t be making these attempts to reunite them with their owner.

You've already nicked them, op. The owner could well have retraced their steps after you'd made off with them.

Why did you take them home with you in the first place? I've had glasses nicked before, bad cess to whatever wanker pocketed them.

i am joking. They're probably in quarantine for a few days.
The amount of stuff stolen from the aforementioned shop is shocking.

What is it with people justifying theft by "if they had that cash to spare, they won't miss it"?? What the fuck is wrong with you idiots?

"They're more than probably fake."

Why?!

This has happened twice to me with Ray Bans - both we’re while we were on a beach on holiday. I’m ashamed to say I still have them.....

You're not remotely ashamed, or you wouldn't have helped yourself twice.

Em, you shouldn’t have taken them n the first place. You say you didn’t think they were expensive but were curious enough to google it to find out?

At best you should now hand them in to a charity shop.

Yes and no. Not ashamed. But both times it was the end of the day and the beach was empty. And we were abroad (not in the UK and not somewhere that I’d want to go anywhere near the local police station.)

@DarlingCoffee

Why did you take them in the first place?

This

Give the op a break. She found some sunglasses. Waited an hour, no one came back so she put them in her bag. That isn't theft. She didn't steal anything. The police are too busy to deal with minor issues like this. Put a little poster up by the nearest tree if you happen to go back to the park. And don't worry any more about it.

You are good person, OP. Everyone makes mistakes. What you do afterwards is what really matter.

Since you've already taken them, I don't agree with PP saying donate to charity - They aren't yours to donate.

I agree with handing them in at the police station - Find a way to go back to the park if you can and check with the local station or go online (local facebook group or so of the area you found them in etc) and mention you've found lost glasses at the park (Don't mention the brand. The owner would need to confirm this). I'd keep them till I can do something about them besides giving them away. You may end up finding the owner if you really try.

Don't feel bad op. Of no luck with the met rest assured that a) they could well be fake and b) if you had left them there is a good chance they would have been broken very soon. I would say they have a better chance of getting back to the owner having been picked up and park ranger informed.

🙄🙄😂😂 Omg, she didn't steal them!!!! Loads of people take lost items home to try and reunite them with the owners if there isn't anywhere obvious to put them for them to be found.
I'd ask a friend who has Facebook to look up the parks Facebook page and put a post on there... If I had lost them the first thing I'd do is put a post on the parks Facebook page or local areas Facebook page asking if anyone had seen them