A safe place for valuables for tornado victims

SUFFOLK

People have discovered them on empty streets, dangling from tree branches and sitting beside broken houses since last Monday's tornado, little big things such as birth certificates and diplomas and jewelry boxes.

The city wanted to make sure such treasures found their way home.

"We tried to think, 'If we lost our house, what are the personal things we'd want to get back,' " Suffolk police Capt. Dean Smith said.

They came up with a list that includes medicine and guns, IDs and safes, wallets and tax documents, purses and passports.

Then they established a Valuables Recovery Center - which is really just a tent and a table and some storage units - at the entrance of Burnetts Mill next to Sentara Obici Hospital.

A Suffolk police officer is at the center, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. through Saturday to accept certain items, then log, photograph and store them for safekeeping.

Seekers can inquire here, too, but should be prepared to identify their property in detail. Don't come looking for your television, couch or kitchen sink, because the city isn't taking electronics or furniture.

Just a few things have trickled in so far, Smith said Wednesday, such as some papers with Social Security numbers on them, a birth certificate on a plaque, a military diploma and some jewelry boxes. He's hoping a lot more will be turned in when some 1,500 registered volunteers pick through tornado-tattered subdivisions in a community cleanup Saturday.

In the meantime, Smith said, folks shouldn't rifle through someone else's belongings. Nor should they be afraid to pick up something they happen across, so long as they turn it in to police.

"We can't differentiate between those trying to do good and those doing not-so-good," Smith said. "We've already had a couple of not-so-good."

Three men were charged Saturday with looting the remains of a home in the Hillpoint Farms neighborhood.

Suffolk police will do their best to match belongings to their owners and get them returned, Smith said. Whatever is left over will be treated as police evidence.

Kristin Davis, (757) 222-5555, kristin.davis@pilotonline.com