Property falls into several categories:
Before the Sheriff’s Office can release any property, it is first entered into a database, then processed according to the specific requirements for each category of property.
Once the property is no longer needed as evidence for court, we attempt to notify the rightful owner that the property is available for release. The lead investigator, or Deputy District Attorney assigned to the case, may also request that the item be photographed and returned to the rightful owner. Property that was reported stolen to another law enforcement agency will be returned to the original agency where it will be cleared for released.
If your property was booked as evidence, it cannot be released until the Sheriff’s Office receives a formal release from the District Attorney’s Office or the primary investigator on the case.
When a case involves asset forfeiture, both the civil and criminal cases must be complete. Before release of the property, the Sheriff’s Office must receive both an Asset Forfeiture Property Release Form from the Asset Forfeiture District Attorney, and a standard property release form from the Criminal Deputy District Attorney who handled the case in court.
Property booked as contraband, has no evidentiary value. It is a possible hazard or an item prohibited for the individual to possess. Contraband property will be entered into the property database and disposed of immediately.
Property booked as safekeeping has no evidentiary value to the case and may be released once it is entered into the property database. However, this does not apply to firearms, drugs, or money. You must retrieve safekeeping items within the specified time or request an extension. General property (including bicycles) booked as safekeeping will be held for ninety (90) days before it is disposed of. To request an extension contact us by phone (916-875-5651) or in writing (3750 Bradview Drive, Sacramento, CA 95827). The Sheriff’s Office will not extend the date more than one year from the date upon which we took possession of the item.
Property booked as Found, generally has no identifiable owner, and is held for ninety (90) days prior to disposal. If the Sheriff’s Office can determine an owner for the property, we will mail a notification to the owner at their last known address.
If you receive notification that your property was turned in to the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office, please try to identify the following information:
You can contact the Sheriff’s Records Bureau by phone at 916-874-5383 or email at records@sacsheriff.com. By giving them the date and the party’s name, the Records Bureau can research the information and provide the report number you will need to present at the Property Bureau to recover the property.
If you wish to file a Finder’s Claim for property you found, tell the responding Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office personnel that you want to file a Finder’s Claim. If you turn the property into a Sheriff Service Center, you can tell the person taking custody of the property that you wish to file a Finder’s Claim. At the completion of the required ninety (90) day holding period, the Sheriff’s Office will send a notification to the address you provide. The letter will contain additional instructions about how to claim the property.
Call 916-875-5651 to find out if we have your property or to request the status on the release of your property. If your property is available for return, you can pick it up at:
Forensics and Evidence Bureau, Property Unit
(916) 875-5650
Monday - Thursday, 8:00 am - 5:00 pm
3750 Bradview Drive, Sacramento CA, 95827
You will need a Government-issued picture identification card (i.e., Driver License, Military ID card, or Passport, to pick up your property). This does not include wristband ID’s issued by Correctional Facilities or Hospitals.
The law requires us to log and retain property until we receive property releases (See Recovered Stolen and Evidence sections).
The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Property Warehouse only receives property booked by the following agencies:
If an agency took your property that is not included in the list above, your property would be located at that agency’s property storage.
The location of your property depends on which law enforcement agency took custody of the property. If you have been incarcerated in the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Main Jail or Rio Cosumnes Correctional Center, that does not mean we received your property.
When the property is taken in the field, we have several locations where law enforcement can secure the property. Sheriff’s Office personnel retrieve property twice a week from these locations and transport it to the Property Bureau.
The owner of the property can designate another person as his/her representative to collect the property, once it is available for release. To be appointed as an owner’s representative, the person will need one of three documents.
An authorizing statement signed by the owner and notarized by a Public Notary. In the event the property owner is in custody, a social worker can arrange for a notary at the local correctional facility.
An authorizing statement signed by the owner and witnessed by an employee of the Sheriff’s Office, or a Correctional Officer. The witness shall print and sign their name, print badge number, title, time and date witnessed, and include a contact number so that the supplied information can be verified.
A Property Release form available to those incarcerated at the Main Jail and the Rio Cosumnes Correctional Center. The owner of the property shall fill out the information requested on the form, and a Sacramento Sheriff’s employee will witness the signature. The property owner’s representative shall ensure that the owner’s inmate identification number (x-reference) and report number are noted. Please call the (916) 875-5651 to check that the property is available for release.
To have your property mailed, you must do the following:
The Property Bureau will store Found and Safekeeping Property for ninety (90) days before disposing of it. If you make a request in writing, we will extend the disposal date of your Safekeeping property. However, by law, we will not hold the Safekeeping General property longer than one (1) year from the date it came into the custody of the Sheriff’s Office.
Evidence will be held until it is no longer needed for the prosecution of the case plus six (6) months. Some instances require us to maintain control of the evidence for as long as the person is incarcerated or until the person is deceased. We have no desire to keep property any longer than we legally are obligated to. We try to have victim’s and defendant’s property ready for release as quickly as the case allows.
We do not return prescription medication or over-the-counter medication. For prescription medication, we will release the empty container with the prescription label on it. You may have your doctor call us, and we will explain what happened to your medication. We cannot identify the integrity of the medication; therefore, we destroy all such substances.
Even though marijuana is legal in California, it is still illegal under Federal Law. As a Law Enforcement Agency, we are held to both State and Federal standards.
To have your marijuana or prescription medication returned, you will need to secure a Court Order signed by a Judge of the Superior Court of California. The request must also have the seal of the Court Clerk on it, showing it was filed officially as a court document.
Before the Sheriff’s Office returns your firearm to you, we are required by law to do a background check on the owner to make sure the owner is still able to own or possess a firearm.
In addition, the Department of Justice requires:
Since January 1, 2014, all firearms (including long guns) release from law enforcement control must be registered to the owner (recipient). You can voluntarily register any unregistered firearm by submitting a Firearm Ownership Report to the Department of Justice, along with a $19.00 USD processing fee (check or money order made payable to the Department of Justice).
Since 2005, the owner of any firearm that comes into the custody of law enforcement, must submit to an extensive Department of Justice background check to determine eligibility to possess a firearm, before law enforcement can release the firearm. To submit a Law Enforcement Gun Release Application (LEGR), fill out the form with the required fee.
The DOJ will send you a document for each firearm you registered. They will also send a two (2) page letter stating that you are either eligible or ineligible to own or possess a firearm. The first page of this letter has three boxes, and the top one should be checked. If the second or third box is checked, the Property Bureau CANNOT release your firearm. Immediately contact the Property Bureau to determine the error so that it might be corrected before the letter expires. The second page of this letter will have a gold foil seal of the state of California affixed to it. The first page will have a date at the top of the page. You will have thirty (30) calendar days (not business days) to retrieve your firearm. You shall bring your picture ID, the letter for each firearm, and the report number for the case in which the firearm was taken, to the Property Bureau to claim your firearms. If you do not claim your firearms within thirty (30) days, you will have to re-apply to DOJ and pay the LEGR fees again.
You may file your DOJ applications and pay the fees electronically through California Firearms Application Reporting System (CFARS). The website uses the California Reporting Information System (CRIS), allowing you to report your firearms to the DOJ.
We do this as a courtesy, to save those who will get denial letters the cost of their application to DOJ. In 2005, the law changed and now requires the owners of all firearms that come into the possession of law enforcement, to file a Law Enforcement Gun Release Application. The fee is $20.00 (USD) for the first firearm and $3.00 for each additional firearm. The charges are to pay for DOJ’s cost of researching the owner’s and the firearms’ backgrounds. DOJ sends denial letters to those owners who are no longer eligible to own or possess guns.
DOJ has thirty (30) days to process your applications. However, it may take up to as much as ninety (90) days. Using the CFARS site may expedite the process. WEBSITE.
When the Sheriff’s Office recovers a firearm that was reported stolen from another jurisdiction, we notify the law enforcement agency that we have the firearm in our possession and it is being held for evidence. Once we are notified that the firearm is no longer needed as evidence, we process the firearm for return back to the agency where the stolen report was made. The reason the firearm is returned to the reporting agency, and not to the owner, is that the agency will know if there has been an insurance payout (making the insurance company the owner of the weapon), or if it is needed for further prosecutions. Additionally, the agency who received the stolen firearm report will need to process the firearm and remove it from the automated firearms system.
When the Sheriff’s Office recovers a firearm that was reported stolen, the owner will be notified of the recovery, and when it becomes available for release, we will send the owner a notification letter. The letter will inform the owner that the firearm has been recovered, and will include any applications that need to be submitted to DOJ. This letter will include a Fee Waiver for the Law Enforcement Gun Release application for the recovered weapon. Once the owner receives the eligibility letter (LEGR) from DOJ, the owner should call the Property Bureau (916-875-5651). The owner has 30-days from the date of the letter to arrange an appointment to recover the firearm.
For firearms that are booked for Safekeeping, we will hold them for six (6) months. If no inquiries into their release are made during that period, they will be scheduled for destruction. If a firearm is booked as Safekeeping due to a Domestic Violence case or a Restraining Order, we review the case one (1) year from the confiscation date. If there have been no inquiries as to their release within the year, they will be scheduled for destruction. Once a firearm has been cleared to go back to an owner, we hold it for six (6) months, after which (delete this > after six months) the firearm will be scheduled for destruction. If the owner is having problems with DOJ, the owner needs to contact us and inform us of the situation; we will work with the owner to provide more resolution time.
If a firearm owner receives a denial letter from the Department of Justice (DOJ) or is told by the court that they can no longer own or possess a firearm, the owner should inform us of this fact. In some cases, we can allow the owner to sell or transfer the firearm. In the event, we allow the owner to sell or transfer the firearm; the owner shall obtain a DOJ sell or transfer form from the Sheriff’s Property Bureau front counter. Sheriff’s Office personnel will witness the owner’s signature (saving them a notary fee), and then the owner may take the form to a federally licensed firearms dealer (FFL) of their choice. The FFL may retrieve the firearms from us and sell or transfer the ownership of said firearms, as instructed by the owner. The FFL may charge a fee for this process. The Property Bureau does not receive any compensation from the FFL and will not recommend any particular FFL to the owner.
If the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office seized your property, including the Rancho Cordova Police Department, Sacramento County Probation Department, Sacramento County Park Ranger’s, or Fulton El Camino Park Police, then you should call 916-875-5651 (Sheriff’s Property) and request the status on the release of your property.
To find out more information please contact us:
Forensics and Evidence Bureau, Property Unity
(916) 875-5651
Monday - Thursday, 8:00am - 5:00pm
3750 Bradview Drive, Sacramento CA, 95827
If your case is adjudicated, then you will need to sign a money release and a check will be mailed to you in 6-8 weeks. However, if the amount was over $500.00 and you were charged with a narcotics crime, it may be asset seized. If you owe Department of Revenue & Recovery (DRR) or Child Support, the funds may be taken.
We have to verify that it is your money so we check with Department of Revenue & Recovery (DRR) and Child Support. If you do not owe DRR or Child Support we send the paperwork to the Sacramento County Auditor’s Office, and they will mail the check to you.
The DA’s office and the officers are not always aware of all our policies and procedures for releasing property. If your case is adjudicated, then you can sign a money release, and the process of returning your money to you will begin.
The Sheriff’s Office does not keep any cash at the property warehouse. Cash is deposited into an account administered by the County Auditor’s office. The County Auditor is the office that processes and mails the checks.
We might be required to forward your money to DRR (Department of Revenue & Recovery) if you owe money to the county. Owed money can consist of court fines, fees, restitution, or any other judgment made by the court.
If you do not live within in the Sacramento area, you can send us a notarized letter with the report number, your name and address, and a copy of your ID (Driver License, Military ID card, or Passport), and we will process the paperwork. The check will be mailed to the address you provide in 6-8 weeks after processing.
If your money was booked as evidence, the Sheriff’s Office will not release money until the case is adjudicated, or the District Attorney’s Office or Detective/Officer tells us to release the money.
The owner of the property can designate another person to be his/her representative to collect the property, once it is available for release. To be appointed as an owner representative, the person will need one of three documents.
An authorizing statement signed by the owner and notarized by a Public Notary. In the event the property owner is in custody, a social worker can arrange for a notary at the local correctional facility.
An authorizing statement signed by the owner and witnessed by a deputy, a non-sworn employee of the sheriff’s office, or a correctional officer. The witness shall print and sign their name, print badge number, title, time and date witnessed, and include a contact number so that the supplied information can be verified.
A Counter Release form available to those incarcerated at the Main Jail and the Rio Cosumnes Correctional Center. The owner shall fill out the information requested on the form, and a Sacramento Sheriff’s employee will witness the signature. The property owner’s representative shall ensure that the owner’s inmate identification number (x-reference) and report number under which the property is noted. Please call the Property Bureau at (916) 875-5651 to check that the property is available for release.
If you owe any money to the Department of Revenue & Recovery, we are obligated to send them what you owe, including money that is owed as a result of court fines, fees, restitution, or any other judgment made by the court.
Chemical(s) were applied to your property to produce fingerprints used in the identification of suspects, and caution must be taken when handling your property.
The health issues that may arise from the chemical processes are:
A person exposed to one or more of the chemicals needs to wash his/her hands and other exposed areas with mild soap and water before eating, drinking, or smoking. Property that has been treated with one or more of the chemicals need to in a well-ventilated area to prevent formation of vapor.
Please refer to the Safety Data Sheet for the chemicals that were used on your property for additional and detailed information regarding its hazards, safety and health data.
CYANOACRYLATE RHODAMINE 6G NINHYDRIN 1,2-INDANEDIONE CRYSTAL VIOLETIf you have any additional questions regarding the handling of your property, please call the
Forensics and Evidence Bureau, Property Unit
(916) 875-5650
Monday - Thurday, 8:00 am - 5:00 pm
3750 Bradview Drive, Sacramento CA, 95827
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