Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Julie Aberman (Hochstadter) on October 22, 2017 at 5:10am

I was gonna post this - http://abc7chicago.com/half-million-in-stolen-items-recovered-from-...

Permalink Reply by Tom A.K. on October 22, 2017 at 7:16am

Hey Julie! How are you? We miss ya.
Thanks for the bump.
Yup. Lots of stolen bicycles here.
Stolen bikes don't always show up at Swap-O-Rama.
It would be great if someone could video the bikes there.
And post the video here.
Or document the bikes.
Would that be allowed?

Permalink Reply by Jim Reho on October 22, 2017 at 11:50am

I remember when they used to have the police recovered property auctions.  The bikes were the main attraction.  

Permalink Reply by mike w. on October 22, 2017 at 12:51pm

Have they stopped having those auctions?

Permalink Reply by Tom A.K. on October 22, 2017 at 12:58pm

Good question mike. I'll have to try and find out.

Permalink Reply by Jim Reho on October 22, 2017 at 4:07pm

Yes, around 2013 or so.  Now, I think the CPD uses this website called propertyroom.com, which I will not even dignify with a link.  The web is full of complaints about them.  You can't even identify where the items are from.  Also, they charge outrageous amounts for shipping -- for example, they classify a typical bike as being 125 pounds for shipping purposes.  At the end of the day, I'm sure the CPD gets very little back from them.  It's too bad.  The auctions were fun and the auction company involved had been doing them for about 50 years.  Also, I wonder how many of those nice bikes never quite make it to the online auction.  

Permalink Reply by Tom A.K. on October 22, 2017 at 12:55pm

Yup. I remember goin" with my uncle to the police auction and got really nice bikes for the cousins. A big draw back then. And ca$h for the 'policemen"s ball'! . . .