Comment by aboardRat4

>It’s like going into a Spanish government building to get your Belgian passport replaced.

The police are not expected to replace the ID. They are expected to give you a proof that you have indeed lost one. In fact Russian embassy won't give you a "returnee permit" unless you go to a Spanish police station and declare your loss of a document.

Even foreign police cannot be expected to just generate documents on a whim.

In the US states don't have embassies, but surely a police station in New York can ask the registration office in California to send them your picture by WhatsApp and have at least a vague kind of proof that you are who you claim to be.