Sec. 18-115. Sale or destruction of unclaimed property; proceeds

The Chief of Police shall transfer to the County Purchasing Agent all unclaimed property under this Division. The County Purchasing Agent shall have the authority to assign serviceable confiscated property to County or County supported agencies in lieu of purchasing new or additional stocks of the same or similar articles. In lieu of assignment of such commodities to County use, the County Purchasing Agent may, pursuant to the provisions of Section 10-164(a) of this Code, dispose of serviceable confiscated property through one of the following methods: competitive bid sale, competitive spot bid sale, competitive auction sale; trade-in; or exchange for goods which are of current need. He may negotiate a sale when the above methods are inappropriate or have failed to produce a fair price or value. Nonserviceable property may be disposed of through destruction. The proceeds of all items sold may be paid to the general operating fund of Prince George's County after deducting the costs of the sale, or may be paid, upon due appropriation measure, to the treasury of the Crime Solvers of Prince George's County, Inc., for the sole purpose of paying rewards to those responsible for supplying information that leads to arrests and indictments. In the event of the dissolution of Crime Solvers of Prince George's County, Inc., a similar organization in cooperation with the Prince George's County Police Department may receive such funds.

The Chief of Police may destroy any confiscated weapon or firearm which is not serviceable or which he feels is dangerously or irregularly constructed. He may either retain for the official use of public law enforcement officers any confiscated handguns or automatic firearms regardless of condition, for purposes of obviating the possibility of handguns or automatic firearms being recycled into the possession of the criminal element or he may transfer to the County Purchasing Agent any weapons or firearms. The County Purchasing Agent may utilize any of the sale, exchange, or trade-in methods stipulated under Subsection (a); provided, however, the weapons may only be sold, exchanged, or traded in only to gun dealers who are registered pursuant to Article 27, Section 443 of the Annotated Code of Maryland. The proceeds of such sale shall be paid to the General Operating Fund of Prince George's County after deducting the costs of the sale.