MPD will Auction Recovered Bikes this month

[Valerie]

Supposedly starting May 1st, but I just found this article today: http://www.wusa9.com/news/dcnews/article/257270/187/Bike-Stolen-Or-Lost-in-DC

It links to MPD’s Flickr feed of recovered bikes (a lot of mountain bikes). You can claim if you can prove ownership.

[Bilsko]

I’m conflicted about this.

There are one or two decent bikes in the lot….but buying somebody’s stolen bike… Kind of leaves a gritty sour taste in the mouth. I think a donation to something like Phoenix would be a more elegant way to unload them.

[ShawnoftheDread]

Great reporting — no information given on where, when, or how they are going to be auctioned.

[Bilsko]

Couldn’t find anything on the MPD website either…but I did see the link to the online auctions (via Govdeals). Look, you can pick up a used POLICE-ISSUE full suspension MTB. *with the official “Police” decal on the top tube.
http://www.govdeals.com/index.cfm?fa=Main.AdvSearchResultsNew&sortoption=la&searchPg=Category&additionalParams=true&timing=BySimple&timingType=&category=143

That’s even better than buying a whited-out Crown Vic (with the mirror side hi-beam light, of course) and rolling around punking people.

C’mon Shawn, you know you want to be *that* guy. I’ll ride around on my Walgoose and you on the Police bike. I can’t think of a better way to roll out from FCC.

[ShawnoftheDread]

@Bilsko 50973 wrote:

Couldn’t find anything on the MPD website either…but I did see the link to the online auctions (via Govdeals). Look, you can pick up a used POLICE-ISSUE full suspension MTB. *with the official “Police” decal on the top tube.
http://www.govdeals.com/index.cfm?fa=Main.AdvSearchResultsNew&sortoption=la&searchPg=Category&additionalParams=true&timing=BySimple&timingType=&category=143

That’s even better than buying a white-out Crown Vic (with the mirror side hi-beam light, of course) and rolling around punking people.

C’mon Shawn, you know you want to be *that* guy. I’ll ride around on my Walgoose and you on the Police bike. I can’t think of a better way to roll out from FCC.

I just happen to have an NYPD uniform jacket that would look pretty good.

[mstone]

@Bilsko 50970 wrote:

I’m conflicted about this.

There are one or two decent bikes in the lot….but buying somebody’s stolen bike… Kind of leaves a gritty sour taste in the mouth. I think a donation to something like Phoenix would be a more elegant way to unload them.

the revenue does help pay for the police who recovered the bikes. most jurisdictions require transparent bidding on unclaimed property sales, to prevent shady sweetheart deals and potential conflicts of interest.

[Valerie]

@ShawnoftheDread 50971 wrote:

Great reporting — no information given on where, when, or how they are going to be auctioned.

Yeah. The MPD website makes it look like they’ll just put them in the online auction. I didn’t even know they had a Flickr page showing recovered bicycles, though. That was the most interesting thing to me.

[Bilsko]

@mstone 50977 wrote:

the revenue does help pay for the police who recovered the bikes. most jurisdictions require transparent bidding on unclaimed property sales, to prevent shady sweetheart deals and potential conflicts of interest.

Sure. I understand the fundamentals of the auctioning program – although there is some bit of irony in the fact that the better they do their job (very broadly speaking), the less revenue they should expect from these types of programs. I’m sure that anyone doing accounting for the various agencies who get revenue from the auctions doesn’t count on it for any budgetary purposes (aside from non-stolen, retired equipment and other goods, I suppose)

Agreed that conflicts arising from designating a single recipient would certainly look bad.

[Valerie]

It also says that they can auction them or donate them. The reporting from WUSA isn’t very good. Donation seems the better route.

[Terpfan]

@Bilsko 50973 wrote:

Couldn’t find anything on the MPD website either…but I did see the link to the online auctions (via Govdeals). Look, you can pick up a used POLICE-ISSUE full suspension MTB. *with the official “Police” decal on the top tube.
http://www.govdeals.com/index.cfm?fa=Main.AdvSearchResultsNew&sortoption=la&searchPg=Category&additionalParams=true&timing=BySimple&timingType=&category=143

That’s even better than buying a whited-out Crown Vic (with the mirror side hi-beam light, of course) and rolling around punking people.

C’mon Shawn, you know you want to be *that* guy. I’ll ride around on my Walgoose and you on the Police bike. I can’t think of a better way to roll out from FCC.

Not that it’s relevant on this forum, but 99 Boxster, ’00 BMW 3 series, dirt cheap. So tempting. I also saw one nice road bike in the bike lots. Problem is that you have to take all the bikes and I would want maybe 2. I wonder if I can then resell the others to a recycling yard or just drop them off at some charity.

[dasgeh]

@Terpfan 53094 wrote:

just drop them off at some charity.

Talk to Pheonix bikes

[83b]

Via Flickr. There are some sweet bikes in the next MPD auction.

This Gunnar looks like it might be my size.
This Trek seems to come with a Garmin 500.
There’s also a nice looking lugged Robeneick fixie, a smallish looking Tarmac, a cargo trike, and a new looking Trek 7.3.

Did anyone ever determine if it’s actually possible to get these at auction? They’re not listed on the GovDeals auction website MPD’s website links to.

[americancyclo]

@83(b) 74860 wrote:

Via Flickr. There are some sweet bikes in the next MPD auction.

This Gunnar looks like it might be my size.
This Trek seems to come with a Garmin 500.
There’s also a nice looking lugged Robeneick fixie, a smallish looking Tarmac, a cargo trike, and a new looking Trek 7.3.

Did anyone ever determine if it’s actually possible to get these at auction? They’re not listed on the GovDeals auction website MPD’s website links to.

I’m under the impression that the bikes are posted there in an effort to return them to the rightful owner.

Property not claimed within 90 days of recovery is considered abandoned. The MPD will advertise this property as abandoned and may dispose of any property not claimed within the designated timeframe. Recovered property not claimed may be auctioned through http://www.govdeals.com or donated. Before any recovered bicycles are auctioned or donated, images will be posted online.

Also saw:
Bianchi Campione
SPZD Tarmac
Cannondale CAAD8
Jamis Coda

[americancyclo]

@83(b) 74860 wrote:

Via Flickr. There are some sweet bikes in the next MPD auction.

This Gunnar looks like it might be my size.

That looks tiny! I mean, normal human size.

[83b]

Yes, ideally these would all find their way back to their rightful homes. Especially nice steel frames like that Gunnar. Unfortunately, I’ve never seen DC-based bikes make it up onto the govt auction website and I don’t recall hearing about them making their way to Phoenix either. I’m afraid that MPD, like many other jurisdictions, might just periodically dump their >90 day inventory.

@americancyclo 74869 wrote:

That looks tiny! I mean, normal human size.

You’re right
There’s another picture of it from an angle where it looks a bigger.

[Author]

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