Police auctions are held to dispose of vehicles and surplus/obsolete equipment. They are also held for such things as recovered items, stolen goods unclaimed, seized items and much more.

Police department equipment that ends up at auction is generally well maintained under strict maintenance schedules although care should still be taken as they may not receive the t.l.c that a private owner/operator would give.

Police auctions are generally conducted by a third party private auction house and can be on-site at police branch or at the auction centre.

A huge array of property can be found at a police auction, can include:

• Sporting equipment
• Motor vehicles
• Auto accessories
• Furniture
• Electrical goods
• TV’s, video/DVD, stereo, CD players etc.
• PlayStations and game consoles
• Power tools and equipment
• Bikes of all types

In the US police departments hold auctions quite regularly in which the public will get a chance to scoop up some of the goods police have confiscated from criminals, including trucks, bicycles, boats and computers along with surplus equipment like retired police cruisers and office equipment.

They are also popular in Australia, although not generally run by the police station itself the auction will be handled by a third party auctioneer service in some cases. Notices for these auctions can generally be found in the Saturday edition of the major news paper in your region.