PROPERTY AND EVIDENCE GENERAL INFORMATION
If the Winter Springs Police Department is holding property that belongs to you please contact our bureau Monday-Friday between the hours of 9:00 A.M. and 4:00 P.M. An appointment is necessary to obtain property from our Property and Evidence Section. You may reach us directly at (407) 327-7953 or (407) 327-7969.
If we are holding property relating to a criminal case, the retention period is 60 days after court final disposition. Items not retrieved after 60 days will be eligible for destruction.
Items taken for safekeeping must be retrieved within 60 days or will be eligible for destruction after this time period.
There are certain items that cannot be returned once they have been impounded by our agency. Vehicle license tags are the most common in this category. If your vehicle license tag has been seized, you should contact the DHSMV to find out how to obtain a new tag. Please visit their homepage for more information on these procedures:
http://www.hsmv.state.fl.us/
Other items currently being held by our agency may also not be eligible for release. Please contact us an individual case basis to obtain further information about obtaining your property.
Winter Springs Police Department does not participate in any auctions or sale of items eligible for release from our custody. We follow a strict destruction schedule for contraband and general items in the custody of our agency.
FOUND PROPERTY
Items found and turned over to our agency are maintained for 90 days. An updated list of articles currently housed by our facility is available in the front lobby of the Winter Springs Police Department, and can be viewed 24 hours a day. If you feel that our department has located an item belonging to you, please contact us for verification. It is important to provide us with proof of ownership for certain items. These instances will also be evaluated on an individual case basis.
CRIME SCENE CAPABILITIES/EVIDENCE PROCESSING
Winter Springs Police Department has a fully operational crime scene unit that is available to respond to major crimes. Our department has obtained the equipment and advanced training for our Crime Scene Technicians to allow us to be self sufficient for most incidents. The collection and processing of evidentiary items can be crucial in helping to solve an investigation. With hundreds of hours of combined training, our bureau is capable of working most crime scenes and can perform many evidence processing techniques on site.
*Please note that when reporting a crime officers may ask to take items from you for processing in the laboratory. Some methods may destroy items, so please inform the officer if there are special handling instructions for the item(s) and/or if you wish for the item not to be processed for evidence. Items of a high dollar value should be heavily considered prior to processing methods.
