Pursuant to the Fourth Amendment, law enforcement officers routinely obtain warrants under a "probable cause" standard to seize items that may contain evidence of a crime.
This is a taking of private property for public use (i.e., the public interest in prosecuting crimes) and therefore, pursuant to the Fifth Amendment, "just compensation" should be paid to the owner.
I have come across examples in which police seize items from third parties (e.g., computer or video systems that may have captured evidence of a serious crime by unrelated suspects). As best I can tell, in practice so long as police assert that the seized item is potentially useful in their investigation of a crime (which, if serious but unsolved, may never be formally abandoned), they can avoid returning seized property – even if the ownership is uncontested and the items are not contraband. I.e., even when the owner is effectively permanently deprived of their property, I have not found any practical legal mechanism for them to seek compensation. (The only redress I have found is a right to petition for return of property, which is apparently denied so long as police assert the property has value in a criminal investigation or prosecution.)
Are there any particular laws, rules, or procedures that provide for payment of compensation in these cases?