“Many people who participated in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection called the House Speaker’s office the next day asking about a lost and found,” Huffington Post says (read story here).
That’s a great idea for next time!
Here’s how it would work. You lay the stuff out on long tables, line the claimants up outside, and bring them in one at a time to identify and claim their stuff. You have them sign a claim form filled out with their personal information and where they can be contacted, a description of the items they’re claiming, and an attestation under oath that they brought these items inside the Capitol and became separated from them while participating in the riot.
However, such a system wasn’t in place in the days following the insurrection, so Capitol staffers improvised one. Here’s what they did: “The staffers answering the calls handed them off to the police, who then asked for their names, addresses and other details so they could ‘tie up those loose ends’.” Presumably items like purses, cellphones, etc., were then released to their owners after they entered plea bargains and the items were no longer needed as evidence.
Photo below: Weapons seized from Capitol insurrectionists
