What’s found is never forgotten at Port Columbus’ lost and found

Over 6.5 million people travel through Port Columbus in a year’s time. And that means one thing – a pretty interesting collection of lost and found items. Lt. Scott Bekemeier, the airport police officer who oversees the property room, said that people would be amazed at what gets left behind. He said, “Even all the baby carriers, you think, ‘I hope they at least didn’t lose the child.’ But the important thing is, we do everything in our power to make sure people get back whatever they lost.”

About 450 items are turned in every month, but during the holiday months (like Dec.), the number of forgotten items increases. All items, except for the bins of hats, gloves, scarves and car keys, are processed with tags that list when they were turned in, who turned them in, where they were found, date, time and descriptions of the lost items. And while most items are claimed within a few days, those that aren’t collected in 90 days get turned over to an auction company for sale.

With all those lost and found items, it looks like I’ll be double checking my pockets at the airport from now on.

Some of the more interesting items: