September 19, 2007, Canton, MI – Canton Police Department was recently approved by the Board of Trustees to begin using Propertyroom.com to dispose of property no longer required to be held by the department.  This includes property seized from a crime scene as well as found property, both of which after a required amount of time are eligible to be sold publicly.  Previously, the department would hold periodic auction sales to dispose of the property.  This method was beginning to date itself, as less people were attending over the years.  Propertyroom.com provides the service of picking up the disposable property and listing it on its website for bid. Funds from all items sold come back to the department, less a 50% fee held by Propertyroom.com. 

“Propertyroom.com initially contacted us a few years ago, and at that time, the board wasn’t ready to approve the online sale of property”, says Property Clerk Snyder.  “But within the past couple of years several other police departments have gone to Propertyroom.com for online auctions and have been extremely satisfied with the results.   All departments I spoke to reported increased profits while Propertyroom.com did all the work.  It was time to go back to the board to ask for approval of this up-to-date method of property disposal,” she adds.

The department was also impressed with an additional program propertyroom.com offers, called Steal It Back.com.  On this site, property owners can register the serial numbers of property they have had stolen.  Propertyroom.com compares serial numbers of items to be auctioned against serial numbers registered on Steal It Back before listing the item.  If they find a match, the appropriate police department is notified, and the property is returned to the victim.  Property owners are also able to register serial numbers of property they own, as a precautionary measure in case it is stolen at a later date.

For more information, log onto www.propertyroom.com, or contact Canton Police Department at 734/394-5400.

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