§ 273.81. Disposition of lost, stolen and unclaimed property.

1.

Notwithstanding the provisions of any general, special or local law to the contrary, all property or money which shall come or be taken into the custody of any member of the Department of Public Safety on suspicion of having been feloniously obtained, or of being the proceeds of crime, and for which there is no claimant other than the person from whom such property was taken, and all lost property coming into the possession of any member of the Department of Public Safety, and any and all property and money taken from pawnbrokers as the proceeds of crime, or by any member of the Department of Public Safety from persons supposed to be insane, intoxicated or otherwise incapable of taking care of themselves, and remaining in the possession of the department for a period of one year without any lawful claimant thereto, may be sold, by a person designated by the Commissioner/Sheriff, at public auction, in a suitable room to be designated by the Commissioner/Sheriff for such purpose, and the proceeds of such sale shall be paid over to the Commissioner of Finance for county purposes. Before each sale may be conducted, notice thereof, together with a list of the articles to be sold at such sale, shall be advertised once, at least ten days prior to said sale, in two newspapers published in the county. Money remaining in the possession of the Department of Public Safety for a period of one year without any lawful claimant thereto shall be paid over to the Commissioner of Finance for county purposes.

2.

However, where the property consists of burglar tools of any description, or firearms, or cartridges, or explosives, or armored or bulletproof clothing, or motor vehicles, or gambling apparatus, or wines or fermented liquors, or soiled, bloody or unsanitary clothing, or solids or liquids of unknown or uncertain composition, or opium, morphine, heroin, cocaine, or any of its admixtures or derivatives, or hypodermic syringes and needles, or obscene pictures, prints, effigies, statues or any poisonous, noxious or deleterious solids or liquids, or any property which in the opinion of the Commissioner/Sheriff is of slight value and the sale of which might result in injury to the health or safety of the public, he may direct a designee to destroy each and every article of such nature. If, in the opinion of the Commissioner/Sheriff, any such firearms, or cartridges, or explosives, or armored or bullet-proof clothing or motor vehicles may be used for the purposes of the Department of Public Safety or other government purposes, such firearms, or cartridges, or explosives, or armored or bullet-proof clothing or motor vehicles may, in the discretion of the Commissioner/Sheriff, be used for such purposes, and the same need not be offered for sale as in this section provided.

(L.L. No. 7-1979, § 6; amended by L.L. No. 13-1983)