Suburban police auctions move online
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Back in the days before the Internet, a great place to go buy a bike for your kid was your local police department. Police departments all over the suburbs would regularly auction off unclaimed bikes and all manner of other things clogging up their storage lockers — for a song.
Police auctions are going the way of the garage sale. They're migrating toward an online auction site.
Police departments that use online auctionsInstead of live auctions, many suburban police departments now use online auctions to dispose of seized, found and stolen items. Among local departments using online auctions are:AlgonquinArlington Heights
Starting next month, the Elgin Police Department's collection of seized, found and surplus items will be auctioned online at propertyroom.com — a site named for the place police departments keep those items.
Elgin will join more than 100 other Illinois departments in moving to the Internet. PJ Bellomo, CEO of Property Room, said trucks load up items from most participating departments — more than 2,600 nationwide — every month for free.
Though propertyroom.com now auctions some items that didn't come from police departments, former New York police officer Thomas Lane founded the company in 1999 as a venue for police auctions and that category still makes up the bulk of the business today.
Lane, who knew the hassles of department auctions, wanted to find an easier way, Bellomo said.
“We try to haul away your headaches and send back money,” Bellomo said. “It's a little motto and we really try to live by it.”
Jim Mallone heads up Elgin's property room and said he is optimistic about the move online. Officers recover about 250 bicycles a year, Mallone said, and used to have to find space to store them from one auction to the next — there usually was a year in between.
Department personnel had to take time away from other duties to organize the auctions each year and get the property from storage to the basement of the Hemmens Cultural Center for the sale. In the end, Elgin didn't make much money from it and wanted to say goodbye to the hassle.
“Our use of propertyroom.com is part of EPD's overarching goal to use technology and other outside resources to improve efficiency and service,” said police department spokeswoman Sue Olafson.
Though Elgin doesn't expect to make much money in the new venture, Mallone said the city would try it out and see what happens.
Schaumburg Police Department's evidence manager, Frank Gyondla, said not only does his department see the space saving and efficiency benefits of propertyroom.com, but Schaumburg also has seen a significant revenue increase from selling the property online since 2008.
Police departments are required to auction off seized and stolen items that go unclaimed by their rightful owners based on state statute. That includes hundreds of bicycles in many departments as well as electronics, baseball bats, clothing and tools. Schaumburg used to hold auctions twice per year and rarely made any more than $1,000. With propertyroom.com, Gyondla said, the department gets monthly checks that are as low as $120 but as high as $1,800.
“I was shocked,” Gyondla said. “We got the first two checks and it was more than we got the whole last year.”
Police departments get 50 percent of the sale price for most items and 75 percent if it sells for more than $1,000, Bellomo said. Though Gyondla said that is more than what Schaumburg used to pay auction companies to run its sales, the city still makes more money in the end.
If someone browsing propertyroom.com comes across an item he or she owned, there is a “steal it back” policy that allows people to prove their ownership and get the item back. A custom racing bicycle and a 1982 class ring from the University of Illinois are two items claimed and returned.
“We sell stolen goods on the Internet,” Bellomo said. “That's a little weird. None of us celebrate theft, but it happens and these are public goods. We think this is a legitimate and pretty good way to make something positive out of a bad situation.”
