If someone is arrested with a bicycle or scooter, what happens to it?

Yes, they get it back from wherever the arresting officer arranged for it ti be stored. Depending on the size of the jurisdiction, they may tell the perp to get someone to come pick it up, or, if it is a juvenile, tell the parents when the parents are called about their child.

I had my skateboard confiscated for skating on private property. I got a 35 dollar ticket and I paid it the next day. Once I paid they led me to a cage with hundreds of bikes and other goodies. They found the skateboard and handed it back and I was on my way.

There was a unusually large number of BBQs down there so I am curious how that happens.

@johnpowell – Tailgate partying?

Seek… That is actually somewhat interesting since this is a big football city and tons of tailgating outside of UofO games. I just assumed crackheads stealing them from yards and running to pawnshops.

They might well be confiscated when people are cooking illegally on public property. College towns are notorious for Webers and bigger things crowding up property rooms. Just think about keg swilling frat boys. For some reason the kegs themselves vanish magically, unless impounded as evidence (perishables!)

This is from what I heard or read and not first-hand knowledge, but the first course of action is to return it to the defendant. Second would be to have the defendant remand custody to someone else, and third if the defendant owed victim restitution, the items can be auctioned off and the proceeds going to paying off the balance.

I once read a case where this burglar stole 100s of thousands of dollars of stuff, from motorcycles, bikes, cameras, etc. when it was time for him to be released they were going to give him the bulk of the stuff. They know he more than likely stole it but had no way to prove it, no one reported the stuff stolen or they had no identifying marks on it that stated it was not his. There was such a big stink about ”rewarding” the perp for being smart enough to snatch so much untraceable stuff the authorities sought to find some remedy to not give him back the items, never found out what became of that though.

Where I come from, cars, bikes and scooters go to the sheriff’s impound if it is not held for evidence in a crime. There is usually an outrageous daily charge for storage which can only be interpreted as punitive. The property is released only when the property owner can formally show ownership and pay the storage costs. If it becomes expensive beyond replacement cost, which it quickly can, the property is often abandoned and after a certain amount of time ownership is transferred to the sheriff for auction. In the case of bicycles, they are sometimes refurbished and can end up under a Christmas tree for a needy child.