Bid now for cheap stolen tools...

[KevM]

I'm not quite sure how I feel about this but I suppose the recovered items have passed the 'waiting' period and the owners haven't bothered (or noticed...?) to report them as stolen. I suppose compared to the alternative of sending them to landfill/scrap it's a cost-effective way of dealing with the problem.

UK Police Property Disposal - a legitimate way of buying stolen goods!

It seems quite limited geographically, I guess only some Police forces bother with this; or maybe they have contracts with 'Cash converters' etc to dispose of items?

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I imagine there must be some legal restrictions on how it's got rid of. I picked up a beautiful Canon AE1 years ago on one of these auctions.

 

[KevM]

As a nipper I got to keep £50 that I found in an envelope and handed into the local police. There was quite a lengthy wait period, it felt like months! I'd forgotten all about it when the local bobby dropped it off for me with a nice letter from the Chief Constable himself.

 

[joethedrummer]

Kev, Having recently been thro" the trauma of having my van stolen with a lifetimes collection of floorlaying tools in it, I would happily buy them back if they were offered at a cheap price, but as mine have not been recovered, unless by some lucky s-d at a car boot sale somewhere who has had a stroke of luck , should not the insurance companies who settle theft claims get the proceeds of the sales.
Sorry for the rant,, but it is still b,,,,y sensitive..
joe...

 

[KevM]

Joe,

Sorry about the theft of your tools - there's a special place reserved in hell for those that would steal a man's way of making his living.

It does seem strange that the insurance companies seem to be doing precious little to discourage the theft, and subsequent illegal disposal of stolen property via car boot sales, etc. I'm still not aware of any insurance company that offers a discount for registering the description and serial numbers of all your kit.

Kev

 

[n0legs]

It used to be, certainly here in Gwent, that a senior officer would sign a (I suppose a disclaimer) certificate to say that all due diligence had been taken to reunite the rightful owner with the recovered items. The items would then be taken to an auction house for disposal.
If you bought from an auction, you could buy with a clear conscience. Either the owner wouldn't want the items back or they had had them insured and replaced.
Good auctions would provide a buyer with a copy, or some equivalent, of the signed police certificate. At the auction you would have quite clearly obtained these items legally.
The store rooms were always full in the Cwmbran station and the items being held could have been in there for months and months. I can remember as a kid dad going in to run a sort of "come and see if we've got something of yours" open day, not many people would turn up.
Other items that could not be sold went to either of the local steel works for incineration. Some items of questionable make up would go too Rechem for incineration in their specialised manner.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Everything I have worth over about £30 is "Smartwater"ed - at least there is a chance of its being definitely identified if it turns up. The signs are a bit of a deterent - it makes my property less appealing than my neighbour's to an opportunist thief. It's less than £100p.a. and some insurance companies give a discount for it.