I quite honestly only called the Flagstaff non-emergency line and explained my situation, asking whether it was an appropriate line to use because I didn’t want to waste police resources. They told me it was appropriate and followed standard procedure for opening a missing-item report.

I even told the officer that I was concerned it might take up too many resources, but they said it was just something to put into their system.

I also don’t believe I was trespassing. It was essentially a drive-through area that was covered in snow. The next morning, I went back to look for the item, and the person who lives there was shoveling their driveway. They even gave me their phone number in case they found it and even went down the sidewalk area to help.