Ask the people in New Orleans how that has worked out.

The way I heard it goes down, they are pretty selective who gets what. None of it is "here is your shit in the condition it was taken no questions asked. Maybe, and that's a maybe, they background check you to get something back after they picked through it AND you can "prove" you owned it. Even then, it was likely tossed in a crate, maybe the crate left in the rain a few times. NRA volunteers supposedly ate cleaning the stuff up for return, sometimes.

And believe me, once someone on some authority trip has the loot, they hate your guts for even asking for it back, since it's like an offense to their rape and pillage mentality to have to give anything back. Don't think it means you get any slack next time your name comes up on the police blotter either it's all about "oh, that guy was a pain in the ass about his stuff, thinks he can tell us what to do...