Do you think your property is among the stolen goods that Vancouver police recovered? Here’s how to get it back.
1) Visit the Vancouver Police Department’s website, which has pictures of all the stolen items: www.cityofvancouver.us/police/page/stolen-recovered-property-page-1-6
2) Call 360-487-7450 and leave a detailed message with your full name, the item number for your property and a phone number where you can be reached from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays.
3) When the police department calls back, provide a police report number, insurance claim or other documentation of where property was stolen, along with a description.
Do you think your property is among the stolen goods that Vancouver police recovered? Here's how to get it back.
1) Visit the Vancouver Police Department's website, which has pictures of all the stolen items: www.cityofvancouver.us/police/page/stolen-recovered-property-page-1-6
2) Call 360-487-7450 and leave a detailed message with your full name, the item number for your property and a phone number where you can be reached from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays.
3) When the police department calls back, provide a police report number, insurance claim or other documentation of where property was stolen, along with a description.
4) Use serial numbers, markings or some other way to identify the property.
4) Use serial numbers, markings or some other way to identify the property.
Hundreds of items were organized and labeled — everything from power tools to musical instruments, bicycles, golf clubs, televisions, watches and weapons (both legal and illegal). But these things weren’t part of a garage sale.
Vancouver police recently recovered more than $50,000 worth of stolen property during an investigation into a string of property crimes, and they’re trying to match every thing with the rightful owners.
The agency hasn’t had such a large-scale recovery in a long time. Typically, police recover a few items or a carload of stolen goods at a time.
“This is kind of a bigger case for us,” said Sgt. Steve Dobbs. He leads the neighborhood response team on the east side of the city, which deals with street-level crimes and livability issues.
On April 23, detectives served a search warrant on a storage unit in east Vancouver, where they seized stolen items, and later served additional warrants on a vehicle and residence, where they found more stolen property.
While the neighborhood response team usually moves quickly through cases, this particular case has consumed an estimated 352 staff hours so far due to the sheer volume of items involved. Dobbs will keep working with another detective to wrap up the case and identify property owners.
After announcing last week that they had recovered all this property, the department was flooded with calls from people trying to retrieve belongings. Detectives and volunteers were still trying to evaluate and document each individual item.
So, for the first time, the agency set up a website and a phone number that leads people through the process of recovering their belongings. Police will get back to people starting Tuesday.
The stuff filled two U-Haul trucks and two vans, Dobbs said. And yet, it just “scratches the surface” of the large amount of property stolen annually. Over $10 million worth of property was reported stolen to Vancouver police in 2013, according to the latest data from the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs. Most things are never recovered or returned.
“When you do get to give stuff back, it feels good,” Dobbs said.
Friday afternoon, Ed Garrow got back his beloved pocket watch that used to be his grandfather’s and was passed down to him on Christmas.
“My mom and dad will both be very happy,” he said.
In February, somebody kicked in the back door of his home in the Vancouver Heights neighborhood and took several valuables. Upon hearing that his house had been burglarized, Garrow immediately thought about the gold, antique watch, which he had left on his dresser.
The watch, engraved with the date 1909, which Garrow assumes refers to his grandfather’s birthday, held a picture of his grandmother when she was a young woman.
Garrow’s wife, Becki Garrow, found the gold watch among the many watches zip-locked in baggies and piled on a table. “Oh, they took the picture out,” she said, after opening the watch.
Prior to the burglary, the Garrows got the watch reconditioned at a shop in Portland, where the staff took pictures of the watch and all of its components. That’s how the Garrows were able to prove ownership and retrieve the watch.
Ed Garrow said it would have been difficult for him to otherwise remember details of the watch, such as whether it had roman numerals or numbers on the face. Without photographic evidence, police couldn’t have given it back to him.
Police spokeswoman Kim Kapp said the city attorney’s office will determine what happens to the property that goes unclaimed.
