CC Minutes - 01/23/06 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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David Collingwood , 3107 Powder River Drive, manager of Jerry’s Home Improvement Center, stated that the store lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in stolen merchandise every year. He supported anything that would help recover the stolen goods and said the ordinance would be greatly appreciated if enacted. Mark Tobin , 1965 Patterson Street, #15, related that he benefited from the system in that his bicycle had been stolen and, through the system, returned. He said his bicycle was fairly expensive. He remarked that bicycle locks did not even stop thieves anymore. He opined that there was something wrong with a community that tacitly accepted the theft of bicycles in broad daylight. He conveyed his appreciation to the police department for the recovery of his bike. Mayor Piercy closed the public hearing and called for comments and questions from the council. Councilor Bettman indicated her support for the ordinance. She asked staff to follow up on Mr. Nelkin’s concern regarding the sharing of proprietary information. She wondered why the purchase price would be useful information and whether it should be required. Detective Berger responded that the purchase price had been beneficial as they experienced cases such as one in which a $6000 ring was sold for $10, which clearly indicated the seller did not know the value of the item. He noted that the ring was returned to the person from whom it had been stolen. Councilor Bettman asked what sorts of protection existed to keep the information confidential. Det. Berger stated that law enforcement only received information on the purchase transaction that the store made. He said there were no records, nor did they have access to information on the subsequent sale of that item. In response to a follow-up question from Councilor Bettman, Det. Berger stated that the purchase price was not required information on the hand-written forms, but some businesses reported it anyway. Councilor Solomon asked if the City would require all of the businesses to purchase the software. Det. Berger replied that there was no cost for the software. He said the only expense to the business would be incurred if the business did not currently have a computer and internet access as part of its business inventory. Councilor Solomon asked if Det. Berger received an email from George Wingard of Eugene Ebay regarding a system other than outsourcing to the current provider, BWI. Det. Berger responded that he had spoken with Mr. Wingard. He related that the system Mr. Wingard spoke of used text files, which would not integrate with the current records management system. He added that having 55 stores reporting things in text files would provide a wide variety of description differences which would present some difficulty in EPD’s efforts to identify stolen items. Councilor Solomon surmised that this would not be much different than handling the process by hand with a paper trail. Councilor Papé appreciated Mr. Nelkin’s comments as well. He shared some of the concern regarding the cost of the system to vendors. While he supported the use of this system, he wanted staff to come up with an option wherein the City “picked up the tab.” He also wondered if it was really necessary for store owners to report the price paid for an item. He asked if the system would fail if the price was not in the notated box. Det. Berger replied that it would not. He reiterated that the price did help police personnel to identify stolen items. MINUTES—Eugene City Council January 23, 2006 Page 7 Regular Session