Slow return of recovered stolen property due to court process: Police

The Fiji Police Force says delays in returning recovered stolen property are caused by court procedures, not police inaction, amid growing public frustration over how long victims wait to reclaim their belongings.

Acting Commissioner of Police Aporosa Lutunauga said police are legally required to present recovered items to court as evidence and cannot release them immediately, even after suspects are arrested.

“We don’t have the right to return it immediately after we confiscate it from the thieves,” Mr Lutunauga said. “Everything goes through process after process.”

His comments follow a public complaint from a victim who claimed their phone and personal items have been held by police for more than two months, despite the alleged thieves being caught within a day.

The victim said they have been repeatedly referred between police lawyers, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), and the investigating officer, with no clear timeline for when their items will be returned.

They also raised concerns that lengthy delays discourage victims from pursuing cases, with some eventually dropping charges to avoid further frustration.

Mr Lutunauga explained that once stolen items are recovered, they are treated as evidence and must be presented in court before any decision can be made on their release.

“Once the thieves are caught, we also get the items and then present them to court for further investigations,” he said.

He added that the court must first confirm the items were stolen and correctly identified as belonging to the complainant.

“The court needs to identify that this is the item that was stolen. Once investigations confirm that, then they will return it,” Mr Lutunauga said.

The Acting Commissioner stressed that police cannot bypass legal procedures, as doing so could compromise cases and affect prosecutions.

“We can’t release it immediately. Everything must follow the legal process,” he said.

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