Louisiana § RS 33:2333 - Stolen, seized, or relinquished property; disposition

§ RS 33:2333. Stolen, seized, or relinquished property; disposition

A.  The provisions of this Section shall apply to all stolen property recovered by any police department and all property lawfully seized by or voluntarily relinquished to any police department the disposition of which is not otherwise provided for by local and state law.

B.  All property described in Subsection A of this Section shall be disposed of as follows:

(1)  Contraband shall be delivered to the district court of the judicial district in which the police department is located, to be disposed of in accordance with the provisions of R.S. 15:41.

(2)(a)  Noncontraband shall not be disposed of prior to the lapse of one hundred fifty days.  If the property has not been claimed by the owner within that time, the police department shall dispose of the property as provided in this Subsection.  The first disposition of such property shall be that all appropriate and usable property shall be given to nonprofit youth facilities or to any other nonprofit organization.  Thereafter, all remaining usable property shall be disposed of by publicly advertised auction held in compliance with relevant laws governing public auctions.  If any property is determined to be unusable, it shall be sold to a salvage company or destroyed.

(b)  However, no property shall be disposed of until the department has advertised twice within thirty days in a newspaper published in the municipality that the police department has within its possession the property to be disposed of.  The advertisement shall describe the property and shall call upon the owner to present himself, prove ownership, and pay the accrued storage charges, as well as the cost of advertisement.

(3)  Repealed by Acts 2003, No. 981, §2, eff. July 1, 2003.

Added by Acts 1977, No. 641, §1.  Acts 1985, No. 537, §1; Acts 1999, No. 828, §1; Acts 2003, No. 981, §§1 and 2, eff. July 1, 2003.