---
title: O.C.G.A. § 17-5-53. Disposition of devices with historical or instructional value.
collection: code
id: 17-5-53
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 17-5-53 (2025)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/17-5-53
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/17-5-53.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/17-5-53/text
source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/document/docs/default-source/joint-features-document-library/t17-(v15)-2020-pdf.pdf?sfvrsn=8c04ccfe_0#page=337
date: 2025
status: active
corpus_version: 2025-supplement-89aa39ab3c68
license: CC0-1.0
publisher: Georgia Commons, an independent project of Georgia Civic Data. Not the State of Georgia. Not legal advice.
up: https://georgiacommons.org/code/17-5.md
previous: https://georgiacommons.org/code/17-5-52.1.md
next: https://georgiacommons.org/code/17-5-54.md
index: https://georgiacommons.org/code/index.md
version: the only printed version
in_force: true
current_through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly
heading_path: CRIMINAL PROCEDURE / SEARCHES AND SEIZURES / DISPOSITION OF PROPERTY SEIZED
---

# O.C.G.A. § 17-5-53. Disposition of devices with historical or instructional value.

(a) After a forfeiture of a device used in a crime, in the event the director of the Division of Archives and History or the commissioner of public safety, in that order or priority, shall desire to receive and retain a device described in Code Section 17-5-51 for historical or instructional purposes of his or her division or department and gives written notice thereof to the sheriff, either prior to the sheriff’s advertisement of the device for sale or within ten days thereafter, the sheriff shall forthwith deliver the device to the requesting division or department which shall retain the device for such purposes. A device delivered to either the division or the department in accordance with this Code section shall become the property of the state.

(b) This Code section shall prevail over Code Section 17-5-52.

## History

Ga. L. 1976, p. 749, § 4; Ga. L. 2002, p. 532, § 5.

## Cross References

Division of Archives and History generally, § 45-13-40 et seq.