subject: Lost and Found Websites [print this page] Lost and Found Websites Lost and Found Websites
People often lose their articles and objects by different ways that sometimes seem to be beyond their own understanding. Yet the heart of the matter is that they somehow lose them and find difficulty that can be minor or major depending on the importance of the article. We are attached to the objects we have been using for long and losing them, however trivial the object is as it is more of a question of its tangible value than its non-tangible value. Just imagine not finding your favorite pen on your vest-pocket as you disembark from the crowded compartment of a train. You feel pathetic. There is a bad taste in your mouth and it seems you could have spent even more than the pen's material worth to get that back. For all those occasions, now there is an entire world of Lost and Found websites across the net in different parts of the globe. Even Canada is having a fair share of such websites to assist the residents in the cities of Vancouver, Richmond, Burnaby, New Westminster, Surrey, Port Moody, Coquitlam, Pitt Meadows, and many more.
Apart from losing goods, there are occasions when they are stolen too. Such incidents too are reported in these sites. In fact even the Government departments investigating theft cases use these sites in various ways. As the website is a virtual treasure trove of information and internet is an easily accessible facility, online lost and found services are one of the most effective ways to link the people who can be of mutual help. The service has really brought a new way of making unbelievable things happen in reaching lost goods to its owner.
But that's not all; there is a different side of the coin. It may happen that you find an unattended briefcase while travelling towards your destination without any mark of identification. No name, no telephone number and no address to get any track of the person. What do you do? Getting to the authority may need time. So you may try out these websites to reach out. Or you may do both. Give its custody to the authorized people after reporting the whereabouts and update the entire episode in the website. That's always a better option as the report is open-ended for both the seeking parties.
The first recorded lost and found services initiated in Paris in 1805. Napoleon instructed the prefect of Police of his regime to establish it as a central place "to collect all objects found in the streets of Paris", according to Jean-Michel Ingrandt, who was appointed the office's director in 2001. But the instruction practically received an impetus only in 1893 when Louis Lpine, the prefect of police of that time, took serious steps to actively track down the owners of lost items.
