The Photographic and Life Exploits of Jacob Vorpahl.
Do you ever have one of those moments, or experiences, in life that just make you scratch your head? Where you just need some time to sit down and rethink things? I’ve definitely had one very long one over the past 24 hours. If I was actually scratching my head I would probably be bald right now and coming close to breaking the skin. It all started yesterday when a homeless man brought in a laptop to where I work asking to get it charged.
You may be wondering why a homeless man would come to where I work in the first place. Well, where I work we give away bag lunches, consisting of crackers and juice and such, to homeless people or those in need. They can come in once a week and get one and sometimes they come asking for help in other areas (we’re a religious organization, if you hadn’t considered that, but this is just something we do on the side). So, I’ve had some pretty strange requests. But never have I ever had a homeless person come in with a laptop asking to get it charged until yesterday. He says he was given this laptop and someone stole the charging cable from him so now he can’t run it. We have an IT guy working here so I figure he might have a spare charger. He does and the guy says he’ll come back in an hour.
Now, in this case, who wouldn’t think the laptop was stolen? Not this guy, that’s for sure. I told the IT guy to check it out, which he did, and we discovered that the computer was registered to someone else. So I call the police nonemergency number and let them know the situation and they dispatch an officer. She shows up, gets the information on everything so far and we start trying to check numbers on it to see if it was reported stolen.
This is where things get really interesting. As the officer is looking up the numbers and calling them in to check and see if it is stolen, she goes to the My Documents folder and finds out all the owners information. Invoices, documents… and even a phone number. She calls it up and the lady answers. The officer asks her if her laptop was lost. She says not exactly. So the officer asks if it was stolen. Nope it wasn’t stolen, either. It was thrown away in the trash… on purpose. Yes, someone threw away their old laptop in the trash with ALL of their personal information on it, no security or even a password, and a homeless man found it. That’s possibly one of the dumbest things to do in the 21st century. But the story gets better.
So, the laptop wasn’t stolen and was found after it was thrown away by the owner. Ok then, everything’s legit. Then the officer offers to bring the laptop back to the previous owner (I say previous because we now know it was thrown away). She agrees and the officer leaves with the laptop. Now, I’m glad the lady is getting back her laptop with all sorts of sensitive information on it. But I’ve got a guy who rightfully found it discarded who’s coming back for it and what am I supposed to tell him? Well, I told him the truth and he didn’t like it very much. So I offered to do what I could and for him to come back the next day (today).
Now I’m the one stuck trying to fix this. I do a little detective work, I get the previous owners address and… I go to her house. Yup, I, the guy who helped her get her computer back, who she doesn’t know at all, show up at her doorstep. I ask if she might consider giving the laptop back once they wipe their information off it. No go. She’s paranoid now. I can understand that. So I recommend a reward since it wasn’t actually their’s anymore once the guy found it when they tossed it. I recommend that she talk it over with her husband and call me the next day.
She does call the next day. She informs me that her husband thinks it’s crazy that the guy should get a reward. She thanks me for all I’ve done and that’s it. Meanwhile the homeless guy is coming back expecting something and I’ve got nothing but an apology. He shows up and gets very upset and says he’s not leaving until something is done. As much as I’m glad the previous owner got their computer back with all the information they had on it, the guy was right. It was his and now it was taken away. My boss overhears what’s going on and intervenes. She tells him to have a seat after I explain the whole thing and she leaves. She eventually comes back and tells the man that one of the workers has a laptop that they’re not using anymore that they can give him next week. All is well.
But what in the world just happened? Was someone stupid enough to throw away a laptop with SENSITIVE information on it? Enough that the police officer opened like… two files and already had her number? And what about the homeless guy. I felt bad. I was just trying to make sure the computer wasn’t stolen and then the officer took it anyway and he was out a laptop. What do YOU think? What would have been the “right” thing in this situation? Let me know your opinion in the comments. Meanwhile, make sure you’re not throwing away laptops, ok?
Jacob,
You did the right thing. Don’t doubt yourself at all. The officer also did the right thing in protecting the owner of the notebook despite their stupidity/ignorance. While we don’t wish them any ill will, their lack of empathy for the guy who found the computer will, unfortunately, come back and bite them. In this world you reap what you sow.
Man, you did the right thing by calling the police because you wanted to make sure that it was not stolen and you wanted to make sure someone’s identity was secure…the owners of the laptop should have given the homeless guy something since it was his…lifes not fair!!! I feel bad for the homeless guy cos he’s the rightful owner since he didnt steal it and he found it
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i’m from germany and laws will most likely be different over in the US, but from my understanding it’s the police officer who did not act correct. The original owner of the laptop threw it away, so she gave up her ownership of it. The Laptop became “herrenloses gut”, that’s how its called in german law. If someone finds it, he can acquire a rightful ownership of the laptop. It was not a stolen object, which can be confiscated by the police. And if it was legal property of the homeless man, then what do you call taking someone’s property away? By the way, it seems like the homeless man hasn’t even had a chance to explain his point of view.
Ask someone from your church who knows your local laws and contact someone at the police. It might be an simple human error. And keep up your pronounced feeling for justice !
I agree Tobias, the police officer did do the wrong thing by taking it. I’m guessing they didn’t really care about the rights of ownership with regards to the homeless man. Unfortunately I’m guessing had he gone to police with a lawyer, he wouldn’t have gotten anything. My work decided to give him $50 for the loss of his property and he was happy to take that. I guess that’s just how it works out sometimes.
I think the homeless guy should sue. It was his after he found it, she admitted to throwing it away. Besides, who throws away a laptop? Clear it out, wipe the information, sell it, give it away, or drop it off at a recycling center.