City of Havre de Grace, MD Property, Unclaimed

The Chief of Police or his designated agent is hereby authorized and empowered to sell at public auction unclaimed property, such as but not limited to any and all lost, abandoned, stolen, lawfully seized or other property of every kind and description remaining unclaimed for 30 days or more in the possession or under the control of the City of Havre de Grace

(1)

The Chief of Police or his designated agent shall, prior to any such sale, advertise no less than once in one or more newspapers circulated in the City that on a date named in the advertisement, which date shall be not less than 10 days after the publication thereof, the Havre de Grace Police Department will offer for sale, at public auction, such lost, abandoned, stolen, lawfully seized or unclaimed property.

(2)

The advertisement shall set forth the time, place and terms of the sale, together with a detailed description of the property to be sold.

(3)

The Havre de Grace Police Department, prior to any sale of such property, shall make reasonable efforts to ascertain the owner thereof and shall, if any person believed to be the owner of such property has a known address, send a notice by registered mail, return receipt requested, to the owner, or shall cause police personnel to hand deliver such notice, at least 10 days prior to the date of the sale. Any person receiving notice pursuant to this subsection who fails to make a written claim prior to the time of sale shall be deemed to have waived any right that they may have to the ownership and possession of such property. In the event that any person shall establish to the satisfaction of the Chief of Police or his designated agent ownership of any such item of property prior to sale, such item of property shall be returned to the owner, at the owner's sole cost and expense.

If the property described in Subsection A is a bicycle, the Havre de Grace Police Department is authorized to dispose of the bicycle, either by public sale, as provided herein, or by gift to any charitable, nonprofit agency or institution located in Harford County.

If any property described in Subsection A is to be used as evidence in a judicial or administrative proceeding, it shall not be sold or otherwise disposed of until the proceeding is completed and the period of time for an appeal has expired.

If any property described in Subsection A is suitable for official use by the Havre de Grace Police Department or, in its opinion, is a threat to the public health, welfare or safety, the Chief of Police shall establish regulations for the use or disposal of such property.

The gross proceeds of any sale under this section shall first be applied to all unpaid, reasonable expenses associated with the sale, including but not limited to advertising and the auctioneer's fee or commissions, and the remainder shall be deposited in the special investigation account of the Havre de Grace Police Department in the general fund of the City of Havre de Grace.

There is hereby established a local forfeited property revenue account within the general fund of the City of Havre de Grace.

All money received by the city under the Havre de Grace Police Department drug enforcement efforts or programs shall be credited to that account.

All personal property received by the Havre de Grace Police Department under the drug enforcement efforts or programs shall be transferred to the Havre de Grace Police Department for its use in law enforcement purposes or disposed of under the disposition of unclaimed property provisions in § 144-1 herein, except that the gross proceeds shall be credited to the local forfeited property revenue account.

All money received by the Havre de Grace Police Department pursuant to this section shall be deposited in the account for use solely by the Havre de Grace Police Department and shall be accumulated in the account until a supplemental appropriation is made to a special account in the grants fund for use by the Havre de Grace Police Department.

Money deposited in the account shall not be used as a source of financing for the annual current expense operating budget of the Havre de Grace Police Department.