A woman finds money on the street and turns it into the police station and tries to claim it later – but she can’t.

Listen to Dave Lieber talk about this story on KRLD-AM radio here.

[audio:KRLD-AM-Feb-23-2011.mp3]

Dear Watchdog Nation: I found $470 cash and turned it in to the city of Dallas. If it was someone’s rent money or food money, I was sure they would appreciate it being turned in, and I believed it would be returned to me if not claimed.

I didn’t plan a big party, but I thought I could donate to some animal charities, and a relative is out of work.

After filing an insurance claim and making four months of calls, I found that it is not Dallas’ policy to return the money. I talked with many officials and city staff members, and no one knew what the policy is or what to do.

What else can I do? I realize that technically this is not my money, but I also know it does not belong to the city.

— Gwen Patterson of Grapevine, Lewisville school district teacher

Watchdog Nation response: You are not going to like this. If you had given the money to Grapevine instead of Dallas, some cats and dogs and your unemployed relative would be a lot happier today.

Grapevine allows unclaimed money to be returned to the finder after 60 days. Dallas had the same policy until two years ago. Then the police chief issued new general orders that any found money goes straight to the general revenue fund.

A readers of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram Dave Lieber Watchdog column first learned, you would have had a better chance in Fort Worth or Arlington, too, both of which follow state law. Maybe that’s one more reason to live in Tarrant County instead of Dallas County. A good Samaritan has a better chance of cashing in.

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Runaround in Dallas

You got the runaround from Dallas for sure. The fact that somebody told you to file an insurance claim with the city to reclaim the money is pathetic. Of course, your insurance claim was denied. City employees have no liability in the matter.

At first, I got the runaround from Dallas, too. I called the city attorney and the city secretary, and nobody would help me. Then I found a helpful Dallas police spokesman, Lt. C.L. Williams, who researched the city rules. He also expressed empathy for what you went through: “I regret very much that Ms. Patterson found it so difficult to get a straight answer on whether she could make a claim to the money. While the temptation may have been great to keep it, she recognized that perhaps it belonged to someone who desperately needed it for rent or food or bills, and she honorably turned it in.”

When I told Williams that you were having second thoughts about the value of doing the right thing, he suggested that honor is important.

“I hope she takes some solace in the fact that the money will be put to use in Dallas in the most efficient way we know how.”

(OK, Tarrant County residents, it’s not polite to laugh here.)

Cities without their own policy may follow state law (Code of Criminal Procedure, Article 18.17, Disposition of Abandoned or Unclaimed Property), which says unclaimed found money can be deposited into a government’s general fund, or a magistrate may be asked to return it to the owner or the finder.

Fort Worth police offer a tip on how to help that process. Spokesman Pedro Criado says those who turn money in to a police officer should make clear, in the written property report, that they want it if the owner is not found.

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Dave Lieber, The Watchdog columnist for The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, is the founder of Watchdog Nation. The new edition of his book, Dave Lieber’s Watchdog Nation: Bite Back When Businesses and Scammers Do You Wrong, is available in hardcover, as a CD audio book, ebook and hey, what else do you need. Visit our store. Now revised and expanded, the book won two national book awards in 2009 for social change. Twitter @DaveLieber