If I lose my papers/passport in the US, what police station should I report it to?
- By
- Aparna Patel
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- 3 Aug, 2023
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The United States has a very complicated law enforcement system, it’s often difficult to tell the difference between police and private security. For example, New York City transit police are real police. The ones minding the trains in many smaller cities are not, yet they have uniforms, radios, guns etc.
However, any law enforcement officer will know who is responsible for what in their area. If you do lose your papers just call the number on any police car you see driving by and ask. If he’s stopped, walk up to the car and ask – they might take your report on the spot. You can also call 9-1-1 and ask for the non-emergency phone number (don’t start on the story, just ask for the regular police phone number).
It depends a bit on where you are, as there are a number of policing units from state police to country sheriffs to city police to university police to transit police. But ultimately, they can all file a report on the lost documents for you to present to your embassy.
On a general basis, if you don’t know exactly where you lost them, then you would go to the city / metropolitan police for that town. They have the broadest jurisdiction and are the most likely place that lost documents would be turned in. And more specialized police (transit police, university police, etc) would have access to their database, should the lost documents be turned in to their office.
If you are certain you lost it on a train/bus or on a campus, then you could report the loss to those specific police. But otherwise use the main police force for the city.
If by chance you think you left it behind at a roadside truck stop or some other such place in rural areas, then either the local county sheriff (if you know approximately where) or the state police if you have been traveling and could have left it multiple places.
Ultimately notifying your embassy is the primary first step.
As with all police matters, it is probably best to go to the police station that covers the smallest area that you are within.
- If you lost your papers in a train station (large enough to have its own transit police), go to the transit police.
- If you lost your papers in a city, go to the city police.
- If you lost your papers outside a city, go to the state police.
If you don’t know whether you are within a city or not, ask somebody. In large metro areas there may be multiple city police agencies (for example, if you’re in northeast Dallas, you might need to visit the Plano Police).
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