BOSTON -- Local police departments fill rooms with abandoned property every year, and for decades authorities had to stage elaborate and expensive auctions to get rid of it.

Police Auctions May Go High-Tech

NewsCenter 5's Kelley Tuthill reported that a new law aims to take the auction online.

"You pay an officer to be there, advertise it in the newspaper and then pay an officer to run the auction. It's kind of crazy," Wellesley Police Chief Terrence Cunningham said.

A 1938 law requires departments to keep seized, lost and abandoned items for a year before advertising them in the newspaper three times and holding an auction.

"It's a very expensive and inefficient process that, at the end of the day, costs them more money when they were supposed to make money selling the property," said Rep. Alice Peisch.

Piesch has sponsored a bill that would allow police to use online auction sites instead, similar to the state treasurer's recent eBay auctions of abandoned property. Police will likely use sites like propertyroom.com.

In a time when every dollar counts, 50 percent of the proceeds will go back to the municipalities.

Cunningham said he has no nostalgia for the auctions he remembers when he joined the force.

"These people were gathered around and said I'll give you $5, $10. I thought this is crazy. And it's been like this since 1938. It's about time for a change," he said.

With the new bill, police will still have to hold onto property for one year, but they will no longer have to advertise the unclaimed property in the newspaper.