Item 3: PH on Ordinance Concerning Used Merchandise Dealers

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disseminating pawn, consignment and buy information, develop a more efficient method of comparing reported stolen property lists with pawned, consigned or sold items and reduce the work hours needed to collect, enter and retrieve information about pawned, consigned or sold property. Although the employment of automated pawn systems is a relatively new alternative to the traditional methods of reporting and investigating pawn shops and secondhand dealers, it is not an alternative that has been untried. Currently several law enforcement agencies within the United States and Canada are using some form of an automated pawn system to assist them in their investigation of pawn and secondhand dealer transactions. Many of these systems are stand-alone systems with limited cross-jurisdictional application that have been developed by the individual agencies to meet their specific needs. After the examination of several available automated reporting systems and reviewing submissions of RFP’s, Lane County, the City of Eugene and the City of Springfield initiated a pilot project for the automated reporting of used merchandise transactions to law enforcement. Business Watch International (BWI) was the automated reporting system selected to participate in the pilot project. Their system provides the internet-based program for collecting, storing and delivering transaction information gathered in pawn shops and secondhand goods businesses. The automated reporting system links police services to a real-time database that displays information on transactions occurring in pawn and secondhand businesses. Pawn and secondhand businesses enter every transaction on computer which is faster and more economical than with any paper method. All information is transferred by Internet into the vendor’s database. Police Services using BWI have round-the-clock access to a database that covers jurisdictions across the country. Initially, four secondhand stores agreed to participate in the pilot project. By FY05, seven secondhand stores were participating in the pilot project. During the course of the three-year pilot project, BWI modified their automated reporting system to address the specific needs of both law enforcement and secondhand businesses, making the system much for effective locally. In March of 2004, Lane County, Eugene and Springfield jointly developed a proposed Used Merchandise Dealer Ordinance that updated current practices and procedures, including the use of automated reporting. Upon completion of the proposed Used Merchandise Dealer Ordinance, used merchandise dealers and owners were invited to attend a meeting to discuss the proposed ordinance and automated reporting with representatives of Lane County, Eugene, Springfield and BusinessWatch International. At the conclusion of the meeting, shop owners were asked to share their comments and suggestions to improve the proposed ordinance. Following an analysis of comments and suggestions made by the used merchandise dealers, several of the suggestions were incorporated into the draft ordinance. In October of 2004, used merchandise dealers and owners were invited to attend a second meeting to discuss the revised ordinance. At the conclusion of the meeting with the used merchandise dealers, government representatives of Lane County, Eugene and Springfield agreed to proceed with the adoption process. THE CONCERNS OF SOME USED MERCHANDISE DEALERS OPPOSED TO THE