By Scott Roblin

Locals look to score deals at Medicine Hat Police Spring Auction

Jun 2, 2018 | 6:41 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – Every year, items are either found or seized by Medicine Hat Police that for one reason or another never find their way back to their original owners.

On Saturday, police cleared their backlog of recovered property with their annual Spring Auction, putting hundreds of items up for bid across from the police station downtown.

Sgt. Stacey Fishley said the auction is a great way to make sure recovered items that aren’t picked up don’t go to waste.

“A lot of the stuff that’s in here is either through found property, or whether it’s through items that were seized or were recovered,” said Fishley. “We try and get it back to the owners as best we can, but if we can’t find the owners then of course it piles up. And after a period of time, then we can release the property through the auction.”

Of course, the most popular items every year are the recovered bicycles and this year’s event was no different.

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Around 190 bikes were up for grabs on Saturday, which is higher than their 150 bicycles auctioned off at the same event last year.

According to Fishley, many of the bikes they receive throughout the year aren’t stolen, just neglected by their owners.

“A lot of it is just bicycles that were found abandoned and then they get turned into the police service,” said Fishley.

Along with the bikes, other property was up for auction including tools, electronics, jewellery, and sporting goods.

Fishley said he was happy to see hundreds of Medicine Hat residents turn out for the morning auction to help get these items out of the cycle of crime.

“It’s great, we love especially to see the looks on the kids faces when they come in to get a bicycle,” said Fishley. “So, it’s great that we can get this stuff back out there and hopefully we won’t see it again.”

Money raised through the auction will be earmarked to either the municipal or provincial government, though it will still be a few weeks before a final total is announced.

Depending on how much property is collected by police over the summer, there is a chance another auction could be held before the end of 2018.