WILLMAR -- Willmar pawn shops would be required to enter their transactions into a computerized network used by law enforcement agencies looking for stolen property, under an ordinance amendment being proposed to the Willmar City Council.
The amendment to the city's 20-year-old ordinance regulating pawn shops was recommended Tuesday evening to the council's Public Works/Safety Committee by Police Chief Jim Kulset.
After more than an hour of discussion, the committee voted to recommend the council hold a public hearing Sept. 19 on the proposed ordinance amendment.
The amendment would implement and establish the use of the system to help the police department better regulate current and future pawn businesses, and decrease and stabilize costs associated with regulating the pawn industry.
Also, the system would increase the identification of criminal activities in the pawn industry through the timely collection and sharing of pawn transaction information, according to the ordinance amendment.
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The committee received an explanation of the network, called Automated Pawn System, from Kulset, and from two representatives of the Minneapolis Police Department, which designed and implemented the system in 1977.
Since that time, 37 police and sheriff 's departments in Minnesota and Wisconsin are regulating pawn and secondhand stores that enter their transaction information into the system.
In addition, 97 police and sheriff 's departments that don't regulate pawn shops and secondhand stores have access to information in the system.
Kulset said police will save time using the system because items are listed in a number of ways compared with the limited search of the department's data base or looking through paper transaction slips that pawn shops are required to fill out at the time of sale and submit to law enforcement.
He said the Automated Pawn System collects and makes data available immediately to participating agencies.
"The only way we could run it in our old records management system was by a person, not by property,'' he said.
"We used to enter these into our local data bases until it got to be so many of them and so time-consuming that we couldn't keep up with that,'' said Kulset. "If you look at Automated Pawn, they enter it as soon as they do the transaction.
"It's a cost and a time savings for local law enforcement in trying to follow up on some of the property thefts and trying to regulate the pawn industry,'' said Kulset. "They do anywhere from 4,000 to 7,000 transactions a year of property. Some of that property is stolen.''
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Kulset recommended the cost of implementing the system be paid by the pawn industry.
The owners of Willmar's two pawn shops said antique stores and secondhand stores should be included in the requirements, and they said too much time would be required to enter information about pawned items into the system.
Kip Foster, owner of KC Gun and Pawn, said he was not opposed to the amendment but wanted other stores included in the regulations that buy and sell used items every day from the public "most times with no identification or paperwork done, and even buy from minors.''
Dennis Johnson, owner of Security Coin and Pawn Shop, said he operates a one-man business and was concerned about the amount of time needed to enter the information into the system if he has other customers waiting. He also said secondhand shops should be included.
Kulset said adding the secondhand shops was another step.
In other business, the committee:
- Approved a suggestion from the Baseball Boosters Association to name a portion of 22nd Street Southwest after Earl B. Olson of Willmar, founder of Jennie-O Foods in the 1950s (later known as Jennie-O Turkey Store.)
Rick Maursetter of the Baseball Boosters said Olson has contributed a significant sum to the construction of Bill Taunton Stadium at Baker Field. The stadium fronts 22nd Street. Maursetter would not disclose the amount of money.
- Authorized the redesign of the proposed fueling system at the new airport to meet the concerns of the Airport Commission.
- Endorsed a plan by the city's Public Works Department to replace rutted black dirt at the unimproved access to East Foot Lake off Seventh Street Northwest near the Kandiyohi County Fairgrounds. The black dirt will be replaced with gravel and crushed rock, according to Mel Odens, public works director.
