AKRON — Sgt. Reinhold Kottke supervised the Akron Police Department property room for decades, managing evidence and organizing annual public auctions of unclaimed items. He worked 48 years at the department, beginning as a patrolman in 1937 and later serving as a detective before transferring to the property room in 1957.
Kottke’s responsibilities included cataloging, storing, and protecting evidence, contraband, and unclaimed items at the downtown Akron Police Department station. He maintained meticulous records using a pen, ledger, paper, and string, tagging each item and logging details such as a metal beer tank found at the top of George Washington Boulevard hill or a chest of drawers discovered on Covington Road.
Confiscated weapons, illegal drugs, and bloodstained clothing were among the items Kottke handled annually. The property room also held stereo consoles, diamond rings, bicycles, fur coats, power tools, and television sets. On any given day, more than 100 bicycles lined the shelves—many dropped off by citizens or seized from thieves but unclaimed by owners.
“You name it, we’ve got it,” Kottke, the property room supervisor, once said. He contacted potential owners by phone or form letter stating, “We have in our possession property which we have reason to believe belongs to you.” He traced the owner of a wallet containing $1,200 but no identification by questioning people in a neighborhood and returned it to a veteran.
Kottke organized an annual public auction each May to clear backlog, held at Glendale Park or the police garage and attracting thousands. Auction sales were strictly cash, with proceeds benefiting the police pension fund. The department refused to sell alcohol, so Kottke poured all confiscated beer, wine, scotch, and bourbon down the drain. “Well, it doesn’t bother me. I don’t touch the stuff,” he said.
In 1976, Kottke incinerated 250 pounds of marijuana confiscated by Akron officers, which had an estimated street value of $80,000. Police Chief Whiddon promoted Kottke to sergeant in 1960, calling him “keeper of the department’s keys” and stating, “I don’t know a man with a more important job.”