City one step closer to pawnbroker ordinance

Helping low to middle income residents

They have less security and less access to high-grade security systems to protect their property. That’s low hanging fruit. So low to mid income people that are suffering the most from theft.”

Pat O'Connell, Fort Madison city attorney

FORT MADISON -  A local businessman pushed back on a city effort to make pawnbrokers and resalers log their inventory online.
At Tuesday’s regular Fort Madison City Council meeting, the council voted 6-0 to approve a second reading of an ordinance that would require pawnbrokers, resalers, scrap metal dealers, second-hand dealers, and itinerant dealers to put inventories of all purchased items on a registry to make it easier for law enforcement to look for stolen property.
Sal Gonzalez, owner of Sal’s Emporium, said the new law will cost him $12,000 over the next 10 years for the price of internet service in his outlet.
Gonzalez said the move is detrimental to low and moderate income people in Fort Madison.
“I personally provide a service to those citizens. I’ve helped 1,000s keep the water on, pay real estate taxes, put gas in the car to get to work.
"There is talk of possibly raising the cost of a pawnbroker license. Why, what is the reason for that,” he asked.
He asked if city workers are doing extra work that a pawnbroker has to pay for, and said the city should look at ways to help pawnbrokers help the forgotten citizens of Fort Madison.
“Maybe lower the price or remove it. That way I could use it to help those that need it.”
Fort Madison Police Chief Mark Rohloff made the proposal to city officials last week to require all inventories of goods purchased from individuals be logged onto a website that would allow quicker searches by investigators for possible stolen property.
The move would cost the city about $3,000 per year to register with the site.
Rohloff, who was not in attendance Tuesday, told the council in July that stolen property continues to be sold to legitimate retailers in the area. He said the new ordinance, which got a second of three approvals Tuesday night, will make it easier for investigators to look for stolen property.
Investigators will be able to log onto the tracking site, and search for stolen goods by search words, rather than making trips to retail facilities and asking for logs and then scrolling through all the logs looking for specific items.
Gonzalez said he was very careful to include IDs with any purchases he makes from sellers. He also asks a battery of questions to try to filter out any possibility that something he buys was stolen.
“My buddy Mark, who’s not here, wants to implement a plan he believes will put away some hardened criminals,” Gonzalez said.
“That’s going to cost taxpayers $30,000 in ten years if the cost doesn’t go up.”
He said for the sake of argument if one item a month is stolen. - not a complete sentence? He said that’s not even 1%, but the police department is notified what’s been stolen. Gonzalez said that item has to be logged somewhere.  If he got a copy of the stolen items, he can watch carefully for the item.
“They can spend three minutes to drop that off, I think that’s part of the investigation.”
Gonzalez also said having the officers on the property is a good deterrent.
“We need our men in blue on the streets 24/7. Not behind a desk looking at my inventory, which only has three-quarters percent chance of something being stolen,” he said.
“This is fiscally irresponsible because it’s not needed. We ask that you be good fiduciary stewards of our tax dollars."
City attorney Pat O’Connell said most communities in Iowa already have this in place.
“This tracks state law, it doesn’t really invent the wheel.  It’s not a new ordinance as far as concepts of concern. Registry is already required by state law. Local licensing is a very common thing. Fort Madison isn’t doing anything other communities don’t already do, so this isn’t an onerous requirement,” O’Connell said.
O’Connell said Illinois, which neighbors Fort Madison, has a state law requiring online registering of purchased property.
He said the ordinance gets property of low and income middle people back by making it easier for law enforcement to get the property back. He said theft usually happens to low or moderate income first.
“They have less security and less access to high-grade security systems to protect their property. That’s low hanging fruit. So low to mid income people are suffering the most from theft,” he said.
City Councilman Rusty Andrews asked Gonzalez if the cost incurred to him would be a business expense or if he could do it at home.
Gonzalez said he wasn’t taking his business home, but Fort Madison Mayor Matt Mohrfeld said the registration can be accessed from a phone or via a mobile hotspot.
Gonzalez said the ordinance hadn’t been explained to him that way.
Andrews said when the police are looking for a specific stolen item they can do a search and it may pop up, which would save officers a lot of time. Andrews said recently a bicycle was stolen from his property and the new technology would allow him to get his bike back.
“I don’t make a butt-load of money and my wife stays home to take care of three kids. My daughter’s bike got stolen…and I want to know where it’s at,” he said. “I’m not going to go out and buy her another one because I don’t have any money, so I want to know if it’s at your pawn shop,” Andrews said.