Can someone please translate this law?

Mebbe something like "Anyone that takes something that isn't theirs for their own use without the knowledge/permission of the rightful owner, with the intent preventing the rightful owner from using the item is guilty of theft".

Ok, well i don't fit into that catagory....lol....thanks.

Do you know what an information charge is?

Thou shalt not steal.

Only in terms of technical specifications for call charging on an ISDN (telephone) network.

Can you lend a little more insight into what you are concerned about? lol

ok here's a bit of the story:
I got something given to me quite a long time ago as a gift. The person and myself had a falling out and he's trying to charge me with theft, bla bla bla. Well the police asked me for the gift so i gave it to them (no warrent). They said they just need to check it out. So now they're tellin me that i'm not getting charged but there just gonna give him back the gift. As far as I concerned thats just not right. And a friend of mine told me just to demand the gift back from the police because they have no grounds to keep it, and if they didn't give it back I could charge the oficer with an information charge.

Hmmm... As far as I know there is no such thing (at least in the US anyway..).

If the police have your property in the cource of an investigation of a complaint then the property is evidence.

The normal process to getting your property back is to write a letter to the police identifying what the item is, the case number it was taken for, etc.. and request a date/time when you can pick up the item.

If they respond that the item was returned to someone else you can file a claim with the city/town for reimbursement for the value of the item and you can file a complaint with the Chief of Police (or Police Dept Inspector General if it's a big enough Police Dept.).

The thing to keep in mind is that the Police don't have the authority to make the decision if the item was stolen or not and they can only return the item to it's rightful owner (which would seem to be you since you gave it to them..).

Now if they think you actually did steal it then they could hold the item and actually charge you with theft and then let a court settle the issue. Otherwise, they have no authority to give it to this other person.

Now, to me it sounds like they think that his report of events was truthful but you co-operated when they came to see you and they just don't want to bother with charging you with something they probably see as petty.

How you see it may be different but... You have to decide how far you want to chase the issue. You could always call a local lawyer that advertises an initial free consultation and go and talk with them for a few minutes and see what they suggest. If the item is only worth a few $$ then my guess is everyone is just going to tell you to let it go.

Well, i think tommorow i am goin to go down to the station and ask them how they justify taking it from me and giving it to him. Then tell them I want my phone back because they can't charge me with anything. I have the recipt, and bills in my name. If they don't give it back I will then inform them that i will be calling the RCMP complaint commissions. I don't beleive they have followed the proper precedure and I am willing to go as far as it has too. They had told me all along it was probably goin to go to civil court, but they were just stringin me along to get what they wanted.

From your latest post, I assume that you're Canadian. I'm not familiar with Canadian law, but in the States an "information" is like an indictment, except that it is issued pursuant to the prosecutor's own authority, rather than through a grand jury. If that's also the case in Canada, then there may have actually been a formal charge lodged against you.

But then they should have arrested you. Taking the property and leaving you alone is, frankly, quite baffling. In any event, fishin' is right: the police have no authority to adjudicate the case -- which they would be doing if they decided who was rightfully entitled to the property. Instead, they can act as nothing more than custodians of the property until a court decides the case.

Ok, well i just got back from the cop shop. I asked them how they justified their decision, they said he had bought the gift under his company name so it doesn't matter if i have the recipt and bills. They said they could charge me with an information or conversion, i dunno, i don't understand police ****. So they said if I turn in the rest of the gift i probably won't get charged. I'm not sure what my plan is now. I'll either call a lawyer to look over my case to see if i could win, or i'll let it go, it's just that i still don't think they're doing things the legal way.

They gave you a pretty lame excuse. So what if he bought it under hhis company name. What's that got to do with whether or not he gave it as a gift? (Does the receipt for the item show a credit card number on it? How do they know he bought it in the comapny name?)

Well, llike I said last night, find a lawyer and do an initial consult.

Thanks fishin',

Yes the receit shows the credit card # on it, and in the top corner it says "sold to: the name of his business". I'm gonna look into talkin to a lawyer, thanks.

Ok well I just talked to my cop friend who doesn't live here but whatever he's a cop. He figured I could get th ephone back but then as soon as i told him that the phone was but under a company name he said i was totally screwed. So I'm just gonna beleive him and give up. It's not worth getting a criminal record. But thank you for your helpfull advise, i appreciate it greatly.

Strange laws .... but how would someone prove that an item in their possession was a gift?