Where do all the confiscated knives go?

[MANIXWORLD]

this is something that has been picking at me for quite awhile now. the knives that either get confiscated at airport terminals and elsewhere,wear knifelaws are even more stringent than druglaws,what happens to these knives.
I mean a pricey collectors piece folder or your favo edc.folder/s with great sentimental value,can get scaled from you,and probably get traded for a case of beer or a cheap bottle of scotch. OUCH!

[swingshot]

Can't answer the question fully, but some knives confiscated at Airports end up on eBay.

[The Deacon]

No "one size fits all" answer here. It depends on where they are confiscated, why they were confiscated, that agency's rules for handling such property, and the ethics of the individual confiscating the knife. As has been noted, some get sold on eBay, or via oither "surplus property" auctions. Some, if connected with a crime or illegal in their own right (switchblade in NY), are incinerated or dumped at sea. Know at least one officer whose habit, after separating a knife from a young punk he could not be bothered to arrest, was to snap the blade off it right then and there, in front of the kid. And I'm not naive enough not to figure that at least a few wind up in the collection of either the officer who made the stop, or one of his buddies.

[tonydahose]

at the airports alot of them sell them off at auctions and then some of the people who buy them put them up on ebay. as far as stops if it gets inventoried some citys will sell them or dispose of them. IIRC Boulder City ebays alot of there stuff after the court date or a certain time has passed, you always see them selling used spydies.

[java]

californiagold2000 is the state of California's seller ID for confiscated goods and resale of old state abused....I mean used equipment. They've had some pretty nice lots of knives in the past.



J

[anthonyc]

all i know is that i get gifts of used knives from time to time from officers :D

[The CoPilot]

One time I saw a news special on TV where they visited a warehouse full of confiscated items from airports. What sticks in my mind was the guy showing the camera several enormous boxes filled with confiscated airport knives and saying that these were to be "sold by the pound". :eek: :eek: :eek:

[flipe8]

My father worked for Revnue Canada(tax man) and his job worked closely with the Canadian Customs. When I had my Salt confiscated coming across the border a while back, I was told it would be destroyed if I lost the appeal or gave it up. My father said that was likely the fate of my knife. In a way, I'd rather them destroy the knife than make a profit off it. Don't know about Canadian airports, though.

[Slick]

I've always assumed most patrol officers have nice knife collections. If a knife becomes evidence it would be entirly different.

I'd rather good knives find new homes rather than being destroyed. I once saw a LEO not write up a charge so he could 'personally' confiscate a knife. It seemed like a good deal all around. The perp had other and better charges to hold him and the cop took an illegal knife off the street.

[MANIXWORLD]

Its quite sad,that things have to go this way,with confiscating your knives.Makes me wonder who puts the 'con' in confiscating.
but then i have seen with many things,like skateboarding for instance,which i have been doing for a good couple of years,that it can just as easy get a bad name,where some bad element, that are into drugs,might be carrying a skateboard,never even ride it,vandalize property,and there you go,another kid's board gets confiscated by a cop,that sees him riding on a sidewalk,thinking his a danger to society.
I feel knives are in the same boat WRT some laws and regulations.
I still wonder if a politician would ever use a knife to cut something open or slice fruit/food....sorry i forgot,they probably have servants doing it for them.

[Michael Cook]

:spyder: A kid skateboarding on the sidewalk is a danger to society. I once saw a kid sidewalk surfing hit a crack in the pavement,send his board flying into traffic breaking a windshield and causing a three car accident. The kid ran off and wasn't found. :spyder:

[Zozo*HC*]

It happend only once to me that one of my knives beeing confiscated. My SW Extreme ops finished in a policemans pocket....:mad:

[KaliGman]

Having been both a federal and local law enforcement officer, as well as a certified instructor at the federal and state levels, I'll tell you that most departments have policies in place as to confiscated property. Many put such property into a property and evidence storage facility. Found property, unclaimed property turned into the department by citizens, and confiscated goods are all, after a waiting period defined by legal codes (or after adjudication of a court case) often sold at auction. In many, many jurisdictions, due to what I consider "political" considerations, knives and anything else that pings someone's "weapon meter" are destroyed rather than sold. I once watched a very rare Colt 1911A1 (WWII era and literally new in box) get melted down because no one claimed it. Politically, no one was going to "put another gun on the street." Of course, the firearm in question would have gone straight into a collection and was worth a few thousand dollars.

I am sure that some knives are "appropriated" when confiscated. Based on my experiences, I would say that, at least in the jurisdictions where I worked, this would have been an exceedingly rare occurrence. As they say, your mileage may vary--just my personal experience.

[Agent Starling]

One time I saw a news special on TV where they visited a warehouse full of confiscated items from airports. What sticks in my mind was the guy showing the camera several enormous boxes filled with confiscated airport knives and saying that these were to be "sold by the pound". :eek: :eek: :eek:
...and little did we know they would all end up on a secret planet where they have this huge pile of knives, kind of like a landfill, that they plan to cover and make a ski slope out of--smoothed over so you could ski on it, of course! :eek: :rolleyes: :D

Agent Starling

[Agent Starling]

I once watched a very rare Colt 1911A1 (WWII era and literally new in box) get melted down because no one claimed it. Politically, no one was going to "put another gun on the street."
how very sad...how could anyone possibly melt down a relic like that...

[bluemist]

pretty soon we might be wondering about where confiscated citizens go

[dialex]

... several enormous boxes filled with confiscated airport knives and saying that these were to be "sold by the pound". :eek: :eek: :eek:

Hummm, I wouldn't mind getting myself a pound of IKBS' and JA Harkins' knives for a couple bucks. :rolleyes:

[The Mastiff]

I had a relative ( now desceased) that worked for the fed agency that was created after 9/11 to oversee airport security. He had a nice collection of Swiss army knives from people giving them to him rather then mailing them home, which was an option if they had time.

My real father used to bring home a box of squirtguns every spring for us to play with. He was an english teacher in the cleveland public schools. One of the jobs perks I guess.

[snuffaluff]

One time I saw a news special on TV where they visited a warehouse full of confiscated items from airports. What sticks in my mind was the guy showing the camera several enormous boxes filled with confiscated airport knives and saying that these were to be "sold by the pound". :eek: :eek: :eek:
I think I saw the same show. There's like 4-5 of these warehouses throughout the US and they have everything from knives to wedding dresses. Yes, wedding dresses just sitting there unclaimed.

[Monocrom]

pretty soon we might be wondering about where confiscated citizens go

A chilling thought.... mostly because of how accurate it might be.

I've seen tiny pairs of inexpensive scissors (mostly the ones used for grooming) end up on e-Bay. They get sold in lots. Like 20 pairs for $3.00 (Something like that).

The knives? Most likely the cheap ones end up being sold that way too.

The nicer ones? I'm sure they end up somewhere.... But most likely not in the pocket of an Official Screener. No, that would never happen. :rolleyes:

[MANIXWORLD]

Makes me wonder if alot of lost knives probably ended up in the Bermuda triangle....now where's my beloved D3 serrated and Native 3 dissapeared to,after being confiscated.

[zenheretic]

IIRC Boulder City ebays alot of there stuff after the court date or a certain time has passed, you always see them selling used spydies.

I've been to the building to pick a bag of Leathermans up. The guy who helped me said most of their stuff is strictly confiscated from the Las Vegas airport and donated to Boulder City. With so many clueless conventions in town, they get all sorts of loot...er I mean dangerous items; like power tools that couldn't possibly be used on a plane (no plug in). They had several rooms full of stuff.