Items lost by commuters on Long Island Railroad trains are likely to stay lost, according to a recent audit of the commuter rail's lost-and-found system.
The audit, conducted by the MTA Inspector General Barry Kluger, found that the lost and found for the nation's busiest commuter rail suffered from lax security and poor management of the thousands of items it receives every year.
Kluger's office said it began looking into the LIRR's lost and found office after receiving a complaint from a commuter who said he lost his wallet on a train in 2013. When the commuter went to pick up the wallet, more than $200 worth of gift cards were missing. One was later used at a store on Long Island.
After opening the inquiry, inspectors discovered that the commuter's story wasn't an uncommon one, with items being misplaced, shoved in poorly guarded and disorganized storage rooms without cameras or clear sign-in and sign-out policies or left out in the open in unlocked bins.
During the audit, investigators also found that items listed as in the lost and found in the office's databases had seemingly vanished.
"Property in the (lost and found office) is at risk of avoidable misplacement or theft. We selected a sample of of 20 items that should have been on the premises, according to the LFO database, but staff was unable to locate eight of them," a report on the audit said.
The audit found that lost items valued at less than $100 were kept much longer than they should have been -- about three times the average 90-day period. Items valued at more than $500, meanwhile were sold off before the mandatory 1-year holding period expired about 90 percent of the time.
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The LIRR said in a statement that it is adopting suggestions made by Kluger's office.
We have already implemented some of those recommendations and are in the process of implementing others," the rail line said. "The Lost & Found is an important customer service and our goal is to do the best we can reconnecting customers with their lost property.
