Auction site sells unclaimed IUPD evidence items

One of many jobs of the police force in the United States includes recovering stolen items. Once an item is recovered, but remains unclaimed or its origin cannot be traced, some police stations put the items on eBay or hold auctions in the police station lots.

IUPD is one of many police stations that partners with a company called Property Room to sell unclaimed lost and found or surplus items online. They started working together in 2012.

Founded by Tom Lane, a former New York police officer and detective, in 1999, Property Room, an online auction site, sells recovered items from across the U.S.

Before an item is allowed on the site, it goes through a process. The unclaimed or stolen property is cataloged and if necessary refurbished. High-end jewelry, luxury watches, autographed footballs and baseballs and other high-value items go through an authentication process, and finally the item is put on the site, auctioned off and delivered to the successful bidder. Property Room does not knowingly sell counterfeits or replicas of items.

“If you see something on our site that says Rolex, this is what will have transpired,” CEO of PropertyRoom.com PJ Bellomo said. “An item comes in, it goes through a jewelry center where we have experts, including a jeweler who was trained at the Gemological Institute of America, someone who has years of experience working with jewelry and watches, look at the item. If it fails their test, we destroy the item.”

The name of the site originated from law enforcement terminology. Police safeguard items in a room called the “Property and Evidence Room,” giving Property Room the inspiration for its name.
 
The site was officially established in January 2000. In 2001, the site closed its first online auction. In 2011, Property Room celebrated its 10th anniversary of selling online. Now, the site has more than 1.5 million registered shoppers.

The site has generated more than $50 million in return from items collected from police property rooms across the U.S., including the Los Angeles Police Department and the New York City Police Department. The money is given back to communities across the U.S. based on what was given to Property Room initially.

In the beginning, Property Room provided online auction services solely to law enforcement agencies. Now, Property Room works with around 2,800 police departments, municipalities, airports, museums and aquariums across the country.
It is required by law that public agencies auction off surplus and unclaimed goods. Bellomo said Property Room makes it easy for police departments and other municipalities to auction off their items.

“The IU Police Department could auction off items on eBay if they wanted to,” Bellomo said, “My guess is, whether at IU or anywhere else, you can’t name a single community who says we have too many officers out on the streets. Do you want to take any one of those people and have them auctioning off goods on eBay? It’s a headache. It’s a big ol’ headache and it’s our job to haul away headaches and send back money.”

Items up for bid on the site cover every category of consumer goods, from watches, jewelry and coins to laptops, power tools and cars. There are a number of unusual items sold on the site, such as coffins, a prehistoric Megalodon shark tooth and a $1,000 bill.

In a recent survey Property Room released for Cyber Monday 2012, the site was able to catalog what the most frequently recovered items were from different sections of the United States, as well as individual states. The Midwest was found to contribute the most gun cases, ATVs, dirtbikes and lawn ornaments. Indiana was found to contribute the most crossbows. 

“It’s a crazy mix of items,” Bellomo said. “The founder, Tom Lane, used to say we sell everything but the kitchen sink. Nowadays we sell the kitchen sink. It’s really an unusual cross-section.”

Though one of the main goals of Property Room is to sell items, Bellomo said they make sure that if someone claims an item is theirs and have proof to that effect, he or she gets the item back.

“The best day of the year is when you can return an item to the rightful owner,” Bellomo said.

As IUPD and Property Room continue to work together to auction off recovered or surplus items, Bellomo reiterated Property Room’s motto when it comes to working with police departments and other municipalities.

“We haul away headaches and send back money,” Bellomo said.