East Grand Forks Police Department property auction features 23 vehicles, other items
Jul. 18—EAST GRAND FORKS — There are 23 vehicles available in the East Grand Forks Police Department's annual auction of seized property, which opened to the public on Monday, July 17.
Bidding will be open until Sunday, July 23. The auction, which has been held exclusively online for a number of years, reaches bidders from across the country.
"The website we use — Govdeals.com — is obviously a national website, and we actually get a lot of our cars sold to people thousands of miles away," said Detective Sgt. Tony Hart.
The majority of vehicles are sold to buyers within Minnesota and North Dakota, but Hart estimates that between 30% and 40% are sold to people outside the region.
Vehicle bids start at $100 and, less than 24 hours into the auction, the highest bid was up to $19,950. The vehicle is a 2011 Ford F-150, and it's received 18 bids.
Most of the vehicles were forfeited for a criminal investigation.
"The vast majority are (seized for) drug investigations, and there's a few DWI seizures as well," Hart said.
This year, there's also a vehicle that was seized for a felony fleeing police case. When a vehicle is seized for an investigation, the owner has the right to fight against the forfeiture in court.
Sometimes, vehicles are seized because they were determined to be abandoned, though it's much less common. There's an abandoned vehicle in the auction this year.
Before abandoned vehicles can be put up for auction, though, the EGFPD sends a certified letter to the last known owner, letting them know the vehicle is in the EGFPD's possession and asking them to get in contact.
The EGFPD has its own impound lot and doesn't charge an impound fee, so if an owner wants to retrieve their vehicle, they would only be responsible for towing fees.
Other abandoned, or lost, property is included in the auction. When property is found and turned in to the EGFPD, the agency posts about it online and waits months before putting it up for auction.
This year, these items include two bicycle lots. One listing has four bicycles, and the other has three. There's also a fish finder and power chair available. All miscellaneous items have a starting bid of $1.
"(The proceeds are) divvied up between the prosecuting agency, the state and the agency responsible for the forfeiture," Hart said.
Since most vehicle seizures are drug-related, a majority of the agency proceeds go to the Pine to Prairie Drug Task Force. Whatever the EGFPD receives, though, will be used for new vehicles, equipment and other related expenses.
