OK collects airports' surrendered property

Nearly 10 years after 9/11, some air travelers have yet to get the message. Or, maybe it slips their minds as they pack for a trip.

But many different items like knives and rolling pins sit on shelves at Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma City and Tulsa International Airport until collected by Oklahoma's Central Services Department and sold as surplus from a warehouse at 2530 W. Reno Ave. in Oklahoma City.

State surplus means exactly that: hundreds of items cast off by the state and sold via auction either online or at the site, said Sara Cowden, spokeswoman for the Department of Central Services.

The federal Office of Property Management works with the U.S. Transportation Security Administration's airport operations to manage lost and unclaimed property in accordance with federal regulations. When possible, travelers are reunited with their lost property, said Luis Casanova, TSA spokesman.

The volume of state surplus is increasing, Casanova said, and not all of it fits in the traditional lost-and-found category.

The TSA in Oklahoma permits airports to assume responsibility for property found at the checkpoint and checked baggage screening area.

Items are collected from TSA offices at each airport, said Kim Wagner, TSA customer service manager at Will Rogers World Airport.

"These are items we locate during screening," Wagner said.

Travelers can do one of several things with their errant items, Wagner said.

"They can mail the items to themselves, put them in their checked luggage or take them back to their car," Wagner said. "So, they have some options. "

Or, travelers give up their items at airport security checkpoints at the two largest Oklahoma airports. The items wind up in bins, and eventually at state surplus, a division of DCS.

"We say willfully surrendered," said Bridgette Miles, TSA customer service manager at Tulsa International.

The most common items collected are knives, Wagner said.

DCS collects the property from each airport about twice a year, Cowden said.

"Many times we have received small boxes of knives, bottle openers and multi-tools from the airports," she said.

But there are a number of other unusual items, Wagner said.

"The liquid glass thermometers, big ice tongs - like a foot across for picking up big cubes of ice; hunting saws - lots of hunting tools like skinning knives and gut knives - rolling pins, shovels, torchlights and anything that looks like a gun," Wagner said.

Because glass thermometers are filled with liquid, people are not allowed to carry them on airplanes, Wagner said. Rolling pins are considered a weapon used to bludgeon people. Other items include bowling balls, souvenir bricks and meat cleavers.

Then there are the items lost on airport property in general, said Karen Carney, Will Rogers World Airport spokeswoman.

"Our office handles those items and all day long there are announcements about 'a watch has been found at the counter,'" Carney said. Airport police take charge of those items. Anything left on the Will Rogers World Airport shuttle to and from the parking lot is handled by the shuttle service, Carney said.

To keep an accurate record of lost property, TSA staff follows strict protocols, Casanova said, including a form that describes the item and details where and when it was found.

"This information is important to help TSA reunite travelers, who have three years to file a claim, with their property," he said.

High-value or sensitive items - like laptops, iPads or jewelry - are stored for 30 days and then shipped to a facility for processing. If the customer cannot be located, the property is sold as surplus.

Because the airport inventory is mixed with the rest of state surplus, there is no accounting for how much the state's general fund has benefited.