Dumpster Diving was Re: Washington DC area vintage sources (was RE:ebay)

From: Joe <rigdonj_at_intellistar.net>
Date: Tue Oct 27 08:28:18 1998

At 10:00 AM 10/27/98 -0000, you wrote:
>Sam wrote:
>> But I ended up getting a visit from my friendly
>> neighborhood police. It seems some local concerned citizen saw me pulling
>> out all sorts of computer gear from the trash and decided something evil
>> was being perpetrated. Go figure.
>
>What did the police have to say about it?
>
>At what point does the contents of the dumpster become publicly available?
>I imagine that this might be a different point than the one at which police
>are aloud to search for evidence, but IANAL.

  I know a couple of guys that dumpster dive nearly every night. The
police have pulled them over numerous times. They usually check them and
their stuff then let them go. Sometimes they tell them to leave but that's
all. They've never been taken in or arrested. FWIW There was a court case
(supreme court?) some years ago that involved the police searching trash
cans for evidence. The court ruled that stuff thrown into the trash and and
placed on the public right of way (street) for pickup was publicly
available and no longer private property. Of course, many commercial trash
dumpsters are still located on company property so this may have no bearing.

   Joe
Received on Tue Oct 27 1998 - 08:28:18 GMT

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