Website Benefits Police and Consumers

Tools

Story Published: Jul 6, 2009 at 3:28 PM PST

By David Klugh

Jewelry, tv's, Computers.
You could always score a deal at a police auction.
And now those auctions are online -- including stuff from Yakima.
Very few people ever get to see what's behind this door. This is Yakima Police department's property room. Everything from stolen designer hand bags to bags of pot is stored here... either awaiting a trial or a rightful owner.

Julie McGovern is in charge of the YPD property room. "Randomly we will go through and research each item to see if we can get it back to the owner."

A daunting task in itself. But no one at YPD looked forward to the end of the year when a live auction finally cleared out some space here.

"We would have to be at the auction site all day for two days or however long the auction lasted."

And they got pennies for the items. Not any more.

"If we can't find an owner then we will send it to propertyroom.com."

The auction site picks it up, makes sure it's working, sells it and sends YPD its' percentage. In some cases hundreds more than any police action could have made.

O-K so it's pretty obvious the benefit this site has for a police agency, but what's the benefit to you? Well, there are several actually. You can buy everything from stereos to scooters, tools to tackle. It's like an e-bay site. And if you see something that was stolen from you or that you lost, there's a way for you to get it back."

Talk about hitting two birds with one virtual stone.

PJ Bellomo is CEO of Propertyroom.com. "For law enforcement, holding auctions cost money and it's a pain in the butt. When it comes to the consumer, typically they're getting 80% sometimes 90% off suggested retail prices."

It's a small victory for YPD but anything that can save a dime in this economy... is worth its weight in gold.

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