With the click of a key on your computer, you can be the proud
new owner of seized property from the Sheriff’s Department evidence
room.
With the click of a key on your computer, you can be the proud new owner of seized property from the Sheriff’s Department evidence room.
The county Sheriff’s Department received approval Tuesday to join other area law enforcement agencies in contracting with a Web site that auctions seized and unclaimed property.
The Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the agreement with the Property Bureau, which sells goods at www.propertybureau.com.
Meanwhile, the Hollister Police Department has been using the online auction since November 2001. Other regional agencies using the Web site include the Gilroy and Morgan Hill police departments.
Sheriff Curtis Hill said he believes the county will cut costs that would incur from physical auctions of evidence room property – while adding dollars to the General Fund. Though he didn’t know an estimate of expected earnings per year.
“The revenues never match the cost to put those things on,” Hill said.
Stolen bicycles are a “classic example” of items that tend to overrun evidence rooms, Hill said. Some bikes in stock will be placed on the auction block, and others the Sheriff’s Department plans to give away to kids in the community, Hill said.
The Sheriff’s Department plans to place property up for auction if the item goes unclaimed and attempts to find the owner fail.
Whatever the county earns from the online auction, which operates continuously, would go toward the department’s crime prevention program, Hill said. That includes Kids in the Park, National Night Out, the County Fair booth and neighborhood watch programs – if requested, Hill said.
The county gets 50 percent of earnings for any items sold for less than $1,000 and 75 percent of earnings from items sold for $1,000 or more.
