Public notices - lost, found or seized property

On a daily basis we come into possession of a lot of property items. Sometimes it's property that has been lost by someone and then handed into police as ‘found’ property; sometimes it is property we have seized as part of an investigation.  

Generally, these items can be grouped into a few types:

• Drug property
• Lost and found property
• Seized property
• Impounded motor vehicles, and
• Things that have been seized or moved by police for other reasons.

You can help us return lost or stolen items to you by engraving your goods with your name or reporting to us if they are lost or stolen. It can be helpful to keep photographs of your high value property items. 

We work hard to locate the lawful owner of property so it can be returned to them, or to tell the owner that the item will be forfeited to the Crown and disposed of. 

Sometimes, even after all our efforts, we cannot find the lawful owner for property we are in possession of. As you can imagine, we can only store these items for a limited time. As a final step before we dispose of property, we issue a public notice stating that, if not claimed, the property will be disposed of in a way the Commissioner considers appropriate. 

We also provide notice that we will dispose of items that are seized for a variety of reasons. These notices fulfil our notification obligations before disposal of the property.

 The links below fulfil these public notice requirements. 

Drug disposal notices

Where drugs are seized as evidence, we scientifically test them and obtain a certificate stating what the drug is.

If you have had drugs seized, you also have the right to have these independently tested before the drugs are destroyed by police. 

These drug disposal notices advise when we intend to destroy the drugs, so you can have them tested beforehand. 

Lost and found property  

This is a list of found property items that we may or may not have located an owner for. 

If you have lost anything, you may want to check this list to see if it has been located by police, and if it is still in our possession.  It should be noted that, if these items are not claimed by the owner within 30 days of written notice (i.e. publishing on this site), then the Commissioner may destroy or dispose of the items.

Seized property

This is a list of seized items for which we don't know the owner, or which are something that cannot be returned. These items can come from a range of sources, so if you lost something or maybe had something stolen, you should check this list to see if we have it before we dispose of the item.

Disposal of impounded motor vehicles 

This is a list of impounded vehicles that are being disposed of by public auction or in a way the Commissioner considers appropriate.  

Notice of seizure or moving an item

This is a list of vehicles, loads, or other things that have been seized or moved by police,  where we have been unable to personally serve the notice and so the notice is being published on this site.