Re:Re-Victimization from Police-Auctioned Cell Phones
by dml-at-umd on Wednesday May 17, 2023 @08:28AM
(#35974311)
Some states require that anything of value seized by the police has to be sold at public auction. I think the spirit is that it has to be made available to the public to avoid the state simply taking it for themselves, fwiw.
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Re:Re-Victimization from Police-Auctioned Cell Phones
by krageon on Wednesday May 17, 2023 @09:54AM
(#35975240)
But the state did take it for themselves, and now they're selling it back. That's not "made available", that's fencing.
Re:Re-Victimization from Police-Auctioned Cell Phones
by yencabulator on Wednesday May 17, 2023 @08:17PM
(#35982817)
Yet, destroying all the items is worse. What other options does one have? I mean, yes there is a perverse incentive, but that's more for cash forfeiture without a crime, which is a real thing too in the US..
Generally auctions are considered the least-unfair way of disposing of property. Outside of forfeiture or lost property, in some causes a court can force shared-ownership property to be auctioned, to give it a "fresh start" without the problematic shared ownership. This also happens with hundreds-of-millions-of-dollar real estate.