So, if you come across $700 cash in -say- a public restroom on your lunch hour, are you obligated to turn it in or attempt to find the owner? What if you actually watch the person forget to pick up their wad of cash before exiting? Certainly the classy, most honest thing to do would be to turn it in, or try to find the owner, or remind the absentminded doof to take his/her money. However, the question is: Are you legally obligated to do so?
In this case it wasn't $700 cash, but a $700 voucher left behind in a slot machine at a casino. The voucher was discovered by an off duty cop, who apparently decided that it was his lucky day and turned in the voucher as his own for cash.
The original winner came back to the slot machine and alerted casino employees that someone had taken his voucher. Employees took the time and trouble to look at security video and confronted the cop. The Cop admitted no wrong doing, but did pay the original winner $700.
So, did the Cop do anything wrong? Clearly, he wasn't as upstanding a citizen as he could of been, but did he steal? I don't think so. It may be reasonable to expect police to behave as model citizens, in which case maybe they shouldn't be in a casino in the first place, but finding something isn't the same as stealing. Especially since the voucher, unlike a piece of jewelry for example, had no identifying markers to prove who owned it.
I don't think the Cop did anything illegal, so why is he on administrative leave? For not being a hero? The guy was at at casino, not church. Luciano's language, that the cop "took" another gamblers winnings, is harsh, especially when considering impressive nature of this particular cop's record.
Ask yourself honestly, in a casino environment, where everyone is trying to win something for nothing, what would you do?
If your mind is too open, your brain will fall out. Warning: Names, identities, descriptions, and pictures have been changed and/or used to protect the innocent as well as the guilty. PollyPeoria should not be used or quoted as a source for your senior college thesis.
Thursday, March 1
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7 comments:
As an ordinary citizen, I would turn the money over. As a Police Officer, I would alert the Casino immediatley and turn the money over. He should be fired. Enough of the Political correct BS. How many other "opportunities" has he taken?
I have to agree with Polly. It was dishonest but it wasn't theft.
I know in some, if not all, gambling venues (Nevada, for instance) it is indeed a crime to take winnings that are not yours--whether they seem to be "lost" or "unclaimed". . . .the police officer's only correct action was to turn the voucher over to the Casino management. . .
I love how everyone buys Luciano description of this officer. Yes he has some decorations -- but he also hasn't been "hero" material for some time. I tend to think that this action is typical for him and speaks more of his true nature than anything else. He was wrong - knew he was wrong - and tried to weasle out of it. He doesn't deserve to wear the uniform.
Most officers live by the motto "Too whom much is given, much is expected." I think we all had the right to expect more from him.
It was theft. Anytime you knowingly take something that does not belong to you it is theft. This "cop" is banned from the casino. I guess that is because they believe he made a mistake.
Good grief, Polly. I tell my children, "if it's not yours, it is somebody's. Leave it where it is or take it to the lost and found."
If I find a car on the street with the keys in it, can I keep it? Would it matter if I found it at "a casino, not church"?
If you take something that isn't yours, you are stealing.
A car left on the street with the keys still in it does not suggest abandonment, just stupidity. So if you saw a twenty dollar bill in the gutter you would just leave it there?
If you had found moeny in a church, left behind on a pew with no clues to who the rightful owner is, I would say that the most noble thing to do would be to turn it in or donate it to the church. However, if you pocketed it I would not call it stealing. Greedy, tacky, but not stealing. The word found is not defined as stealing or vice versa. Not being a big gambler myself, I did not know the rule that anything left behind at a slot machine, or even a token left on the floor,at a casino must be left behind. Frankly, until this incident, I didn't see the difference between finding a token left behind at a casino or a quarter left behind at a pay telephone. However, I do see the difference between a quarter and $700.00. The upstanding thing would to have turned it in, no doubt, but I still say it isn't the same as stealing and shouldn't be treated as such.
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