An Act Concerning the Disposal of Unclaimed, Lost or Stolen Personal Property by Law Enforcement Agencies
Maine Legislature, Session 125, LD 1227
Committee: Criminal Justice and Public Safety
Sponsors: BURNS
Amends: 25 MRSA §3502, 25 MRSA §3503

Legislative Document 
No. 1227 
H.P. 918 
House of Representatives, March 22, 2011 
An Act Concerning the Disposal of Unclaimed, Lost or Stolen 
Personal Property by Law Enforcement Agencies 
Submitted by the Department of Public Safety pursuant to Joint Rule 204. 
Reference to the Committee on Criminal Justice and Public Safety suggested and ordered 
printed. 
HEATHER J.R. PRIEST 
Clerk 
Presented by Representative BURNS of Whiting. 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1.  25 MRSA §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 of the property 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 of 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 or in the 
state paper a newspaper having statewide circulation in the case of a state law 
enforcement agency, a notice of his the law enforcement agency's posesession possession 
of such property and its inability to ascertain the owner thereof of the property. 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 
of the property has not claimed such property within 5 months of the date of such 
published notice, such property will either be surrendered to the person who found it, if 
any, or be sold to the highest bidder at public auction, donated to a nonprofit organization 
or charity or disposed of as waste. 
Sec. 2.  25 MRSA §3503, as enacted by PL 1975, c. 558, is amended to read: 
§3503.  Sale 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 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 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 period, the principal official thereof shall 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 be published at least once in a 
newspaper of general circulation in the county wherein such official has authority at least 
days prior to such auction or in the state paper in the case of a state law enforcement 
agency. Property offered but not sold at such public auction may be offered and sold at a 
subsequent public auction without further notice, donated to a nonprofit organization or 
charity or disposed of as waste. 
A law enforcement agency shall appropriately and properly dispose of as waste any 
property that poses a possible health risk. 
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 of a law enforcement agency or by 
any immediate family member of any member of a law enforcement agency. 
SUMMARY 
This bill provides law enforcement agencies in disposing of unclaimed, lost and 
stolen property in their custody with more options, including donating it to a nonprofit 
organization or charity or disposing of it as waste.