OccupySD personal property piled up by police after sweep early Friday morning
Police confiscated a large amount of personal property when they swept through the civic Center Plaza early friday morning, and many people have expressed concern over how or if they would be able to get any of it back.
As posted by Matthew Hall, a rough list of items confiscated from OccupySD
- 4 big pop up tents
- 7 big trash cans full of miscellaneous stuff (ie. skateboards, blankets, clothing, sleeping bags, tents, tarps)
- 15 chairs
- 1 shabby chic yellow nightstand
- 8 tables
- variety of cardboard signs
- 7 bikes
- 30 backpacks/carts/roller suitcases
- 9 boxes labeled games, dvds/books, toys, helmets, lunch boxes, blankets
- 1 bucket labeled OC and mace remedy and prevention, containing vinegar and imodium AD
- 3 coolers
- 4-5 cameras
- 10 plastic crates full of stuff
- Also: 16 individual lots of property impounded from specific arrestees (backpacks, purses, tents, etc.)
SOURCE: SDPD
I called the police department property room this morning and was told that a release would be needed before anything could be claimed and was given the phone number of Central Investigations. I spoke to a nice woman there who informed me that police had kept everything that appeared to be of value, but that nothing had been done with it over the weekend. An officer was in the process of tagging everything, that she had worked all day yesterday, she probably wouldn’t be finished for a couple more days and that nothing could be claimed until that was finished.
I have a voice mail into the officer working on tagging the property and will update this information to inform Occupiers the process they will need to go through to get their property back.
UPDATE!
I have been informed by SDPD that property that was confiscated on Friday morning can now be picked up. Here is the process for retrieving your possessions:
- Go to the office of the San Diego Police Department Central Division at 25th Street and Imperial Avenue.
- Speak to Officer Arden, inform the officer you are picking property that was seized from Occupy San Diego.
- Be prepared to describe your items so they can be identified in the log. If what you described matches the description of items logged you will be given a copy of a Property Release Form.
- Take the Property Release Form to the San Diego Police Headquarters at 1401 Broadway to reclaim your property.
I was informed by SDPD that of all the items confiscated only 80 items were kept and tagged, presumably what ever they thought had some value. The rest of the items were taken to the dump. Be aware though, that an “item” may be a box of things, or a backpack of belongings.
Good luck to all. If you have anything to add to this please comment or let us know.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
I donated two books worth $25 each, but I’m sure the police didn’t consider them to be of any value. I’m pretty sure that among the literature confiscated from the education library were copies of the Constitution of the United States of America, and despite their oath to uphold and defend it, I seriously doubt if the police consider that to be of any value either. I hope the guy who donated 300 books can get some of them back.
What a shame ,how sad what a total waste !
From the OccupySD newsletter, Ray Lutz:
Personal Items Seized by Police at OSD
Anyone who lost property should go immediately to SDPD HQ at 14th and Broadway. At the front entrance, turn right, go down the steps and follow the blue diamonds to the back door at the property room. Check in with the woman at the counter. There are still many personal belongings there, and you are allowed to look through it to see what is yours. They said all the stuff at the Civic Center was trashed. Only stuff from Children’s Park was kept.
Some of the stuff that I saw:
About 10 different tables of various sizes. One really long plastic banquet table. One regular brown banquet table. One 4 ft mini plastic table. Other weird tables.
A bunch of folding chairs, some metal ones, some aluminum patio chairs, etc.
A whole bunch of backpacks, duffel bags, etc. with personal belongings inside.
A number of tents, canopies, etc. that were confiscated in the initial clearing of the Civic Center Plaza (11-14) or were taken from Children’s Park last Thursday. Many of these are broken or in random containers, so I’m not sure how productive any recovery attempt will be.
Boxes of books and DVDs from the education area.
Games and Art Supplies from Children’s Park.
I picked up a power supply with a green pack attached. It is one like the media committee was using, so let me know if it is yours. I also recovered three tables I supplied and a box of stuff from media committee (power strips, etc.). I lost the large megaphone and two small megaphones, unless someone has those (all from Harbor Freight Tools).
There was a mini-DV camera, somewhat larger form factor than the super modern ones.
There were a number of sleeping bags, shoes and other personal stuff from Children’s park.