Albuquerque police look to start ‘item of the week’ to get valuables back to owners

"We have 5,000 unique items back here,"

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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M (KRQE) – The Albuquerque Police Department said it's looking for a new way to get stolen and lost items building up in their evidence lab, back to their owners.

"We have 5,000 unique items back here," Officer Simon Drobik said.

They're all checked-in and locked-up inside APD's evidence lab.

"Most items have no serial number, so we don't know who they belong to," Officer Drobik said. "Either they they'll be sold or they end up getting destroyed."

The department uses a police auction website called PropertyRoom.com. According to Officer Drobik, items that get checked into the evidence lab that are not part of an active case or needed in a criminal investigation only stay for 90 days.

"After 90 days and if the item is more than $50 in value, we put it on PropertyRoom.com and that money goes back into the general fund for the city," he said.

However, Officer Drobik said because of the overwhelming number of items, they want to try and get most of the most unique items that can't be replaced, back to their owners.

APD said it's planning to showcase an item a week, just like they do when they need the public's help finding the "fugitive of the week" or help solving the "crime of the week."

"With 5,000 unique items back here, it's almost impossible to showcase all of them," Officer Drobik said. "So we'll try to pick out the pick of the litter here."

Details of "item of the week" are still being worked out.

APD said if you think they have an item that belongs to you stuck in evidence that's not part of an ongoing case, you need some kind of proof that it's yours to get it back.

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