An Act To Improve the Laws Concerning the Management by Law Enforcement Agencies of Unclaimed, Lost or Stolen Personal Property
Maine Legislature, Session 123, LD 1085
Committee: Judiciary
Sponsors: GERZOFSKY
Amends: 25 MRSA §3503, 25 MRSA §3506, 25 MRSA §3507

Legislative Document 
No.I08S 
H.P.803 
House of Representatives, March 6, 2007 
An Act To Improve the Laws Concerning the Management by Law 
Enforcement Agencies of Unclaimed, Lost or Stolen Personal 
Property 
Submitted by the Department of Public Safety pursuant to Joint Rule 204. 
Reference to the Committee on Judiciary suggested and ordered printed. 
Presented by Representative GERZOFSKY of Brunswick. 
Printed on recyded paper 
'7J'/~ m.7!/dC~ 
MILLICENT M. MacFARLAND 
Clerk 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1. 25 MRS A §3501, as amended by PL 1983, c. 254, §1, is further amended 
to read: 
§3501. Application of chapter 
This chapter shall apply applies to all personal property of which possession that is 
transferred to a police department or other law enforcement agency of the State or any 
political subdivision thereof, of the State under circumstances supporting a reasonable 
belief that such property was abandoned, lost or stolen, or otherwise illegally possessed, 
except property seized during search and retained and ultimately returned, destroyed or 
otherwise disposed of pursuant to a court order or some other law hereafter applicable to 
specific property or circumstance. This chapter shall apply applies to personal property 
seized during search and retained whish that is not offered or admitted as evidence and 
whish that, after retention by a police department or other law enforcement agency, 
becomes abandoned. 
Sec. 2. 25 MRS A §3502, as enacted by PL 1975, c. 558, is amended to read: 
§3502. Custody and return of property believed to be abandoned, lost or stolen 
Such property believed to be abandoned, lost or stolen or otherwise illegally 
possessed, as is covered by this chapter, shall must be retained in custody by the chief of 
police or the principal official of the law enforcement agency, who shall make reasonable 
inquiry and efforts to identify and notify the owner or other person entitled to possession 
thereof~ and shall return the property after such person provides reasonable and 
satisfactory proof of his that person's ownership or right to possession and reimburses the 
agency and others authorized to incur expenses by the agency for all reasonable expenses 
of such custody. If the owner of such property or any other person entitled to possession 
thereof of the property has not been identified within after at least 30 days from the initial 
date of custody 9f such property by a law enforcement agency, the principal official of 
such agency shall cause to be published, at least once in a newspaper of general 
circulation in the county wherein in which such official has authority er, in the state paper 
a newspaper having statewide circulation in the case of a state law enforcement agency, 
or on the law enforcement agency's publicly accessible website, a notice of his the law 
enforcement agency's posesession possession of such property and its inability to 
ascertain the owner thereof. Such notice shall must also contain a brief description of the 
property and a statement to the effect that, if the owner of such property or any other 
person entitled to possession thereof has not claimed such property within 5 months 30 
days of the date of such published notice, such property vAll either must be surrendered to 
the person who found it, if any, er-be sold to the highest bidder at public auction, donated 
to a nonprofit charity or disposed of as waste. At no time may any property that has been 
disposed of by a law enforcement agency as waste be owned or personally used by any 
member or relative of a member of that law enforcement agency. 
Sec. 3. 25 MRSA §3503, as enacted by PL 1975, c. 558, is amended to read: 
Page I - 123LR0497(Ol)-1 
§3503. Sale, donation or disposal of unclaimed property 
If the identity or location of the owner or other person entitled to possession of the 
property has not been ascertained within 6 months 60 days after the law enforcement 
agency obtains such possession, or said identity has been determined and such person 
does not claim possession within this 6 month 60-day period, and the finder of such 
property, if any, has not claimed it pursuant to the provisions of section 3507 within 15 
days after the expiration of said 6 month the 60-day period, the principal official thereof 
shall may effectuate the sale of the property for cash to the highest bidder at a public 
auction, notice of which, including time, place and a brief description of such property, 
shall must be published at least once in a newspaper of general circulation in the county 
wherein in which such official has authority at least 10 days prior to such auction er~ in 
the state paper a newspaper having statewide circulation in the case of a state law 
enforcement agency or on the law enforcement agency's publicly accessible website. 
Property offered but not sold at such public auction may be offered and sold at a 
subsequent public auction without further notice. A law enforcement agency also may 
donate the property to a nonprofit charity or dispose of the property as waste without 
having offered that property at a public auction. 
Sec. 4. 25 MRS A §3504, as affected by PL 1997, c. 508, Pt. A, §3 and amended 
by Pt. B, §6, is further amended to read: 
§3S04. Deposit of proceeds 
Proceeds of the ~ sale of the property at public auction, less reimbursement to the law 
enforcement agency and others authorized of the reasonable expenses of custody, must be 
disposed of according to Title 33, chapter 41. 
Sec. 5. 25 MRS A §3505, as enacted by PL 1975, c. 558, is amended to read: 
§3S0S. Recovery of property by owner or person entitled to possession; limitation 
The owner or other person entitled to possession of sooh property may claim and 
recover possession of the property at any time before its sale at public auction, donation 
to charity or disposition as waste upon providing reasonable and satisfactory proof of 
ownership or right to possession and reimbursing the law enforcement agency and others 
authorized for all reasonable expenses for custody thereof of that property. 
Sec. 6. 25 MRSA §3506, as enacted by PL 1975, c. 558, is amended to read: 
§3S06. Damages occasioned by acts or omissions 
Ne A person shall be is not responsible for subsequent damages to another 
occasioned by an act or omission in compliance with this chapter. 
An action or 
proceeding may not be maintained against any law enforcement agency or agent of any 
law enforcement agency for or on account of an act or an omission of an act of that law 
enforcement agency or law enforcement agency's agent under this chapter. 
Sec. 7. 25 MRSA §3507, as enacted by PL 1975, c. 558, is amended to read: 
§3507. Property returned to finder 
Any person may surrender property vlhioh he that that person has found to a law 
enforcement agency. Such person shall be i§ entitled to have such property surrendered to 
him that person if the owner thereof of the property or other person entitled to possession 
thereof of the property has not properly claimed the property within 6 mOflths 60 days of 
its surrender to the law enforcement agency, provided such person who so surrendered 
the property reimburses the law enforcement agency and others authorized for reasonable 
expenses incurred in its custody of such property. 
SUMMARY 
This bill provides law enforcement agencies greater latitude and discretion in how 
they manage unclaimed, abandoned, lost or stolen personal property in their respective 
custodies. 
Among other things, the bill decreases the amount of time an owner is allowed to 
claim abandoned, lost or stolen property and allows a law enforcement agency to 
advertise its possession of such property on its publicly accessible website rather than in a 
newspaper. The bill also allows law enforcement agencies to donate such property to 
charity or dispose of the property as waste as alternatives to holding a sale of the property 
at a public auction.