DESPITE reports that police forces will stop taking lost property, Hampshire Constabulary said its policy “remains unchanged”.

Last week speculation about a controversial move by chief constables made headlines in The Sun, the Daily Mail and the Daily Express. The worry started with a report to the Chief Constables’ Council, recommending that police “cease the recording of lost-property reports”.

Some forces, such as Leicester and Kent, already prefer not to handle lost property and others only accept items if they pose a risk to the public or are directly related to a crime. Instead, many forces recommend an online service called Report My Loss, which in most areas costs £4.95 to record a missing item.

There is no legal requirement for police to take lost property and, with officer time spread thin, it is seen by some as a service ripe for cutting.

But Hampshire Constabulary will carry on with its policy, at least in the short term. “The current details around how we manage lost and stolen property is on our website,” a spokesman told the Herald.

“This process remains unchanged.”

But the force only records and retains certain items, and already urges people to hand finds into other bodies. For example, if you stumble across something on private premises or public transport, or at shopping centres or hotels, it should be handed into the management or service operator. Officers will only be interested if it is a firearm or explosive device, which should be reported immediately.

They will also not take a report for driving licences, which should go to the DVLA, UK passports or bank cards - all of which will be returned to the issuing agency if given to the police. Also, they do not want alcohol, clothing, keys, food, umbrellas, or wallets, purses and handbags which do not contain identification. Lost animals should be reported to the local animal-welfare organisation; cutlery or kitchen knives should go to a recycling centre and medication should be dropped off at a pharmacy. The advice for bicycles is to leave them in situ and contact the council.

Hampshire police will not take a report for an item lost for more than four weeks, or that was lost on private property, and does not take lost reports for cash, glasses, hearing aids, low-value items, keys, computers or mobile phones. The force will only record high-value items, such as jewellery or watches, lost in public places in the past four weeks. But they are “actively using social media to try and reunite as many people as possible with property that we seize or recover during our investigations”.

A further issue is a lack of local reception desks. Following the closure and subsequent demolition of Whitehill Police Station in 2016, Bordon residents had to travel to Alton for a face-to-face meeting with police. However, Alton Police Station has since closed, meaning Aldershot, Basingstoke or Winchester are the local points of contact for reporting crime in person.