Pawn shop plan needs tweaking

Anyone who has been the victim of a burglary knows how difficult it can be to recover what was lost.

About $3 million in jewelry and precious metals is stolen annually on Oahu, but less than 1 percent is recovered, according to the Honolulu Police Department.

It’s a safe bet that the thieves sold most of those valuables. But to whom? Traditionally, suspicion has fallen on those who trade in valuable used goods — pawnbrokers and secondhand dealers who provide money from convenient neighborhood storefronts.

"We believe that pawnshops are places where the criminal element are able to sell a lot of their stolen goods," said Maj. Richard Robinson, head of the department’s criminal investigations division.

As a result, pawnbrokers and secondhand dealers are required to provide the HPD with detailed records of each transaction, including the seller or customer’s name, address, age and driver’s license number or equivalent.

For purposes of a criminal investigation, however, the system is slow, antiquated and ill-suited to the quickness with which stolen goods get fenced. Each week, the businesses submit transaction records on handwritten transaction slips, about 12,000 per month. The police wade through them when they can. Under this system, a two-detective pawnshop detail established in August 2011 has recovered more than $64,000 worth of items, Robinson said.

In this day and age, a system relying on handwritten notes won’t do. Two bills before the Honolulu City Council, Bills 51 and 52, attempt to correct the problem by replacing the handwritten slips with an electronic database.

Conceptually, it’s a good idea. The database would contain information already required by state law, but in a way that allows a large number of transactions to be searched quickly to match the crime under investigation. For instance, the police could determine if several different items stolen from a home were sold at the same time.

However, the changes would place a greater burden and cost on the businesses involved. The Council must, within reason, ensure that the burdens aren’t prohibitive.

The cost of maintaining the system would shift from HPD to the businesses, which eventually would be required to pay the fee of the private vendor maintaining the database. Because the HPD and city would be choosing the vendor, the businesses would have little or no control over the contract or how the data collected on their customers is secured.

Also, the bills are more specific than state law. Instead of just a general description, for instance, the dealer would record the seller’s or customer’s height, weight, last four numbers of his or her Social Security number, race, gender, hair and eye color, and any other identifying marks, such as tattoos. Dealers would also have to provide a full-face photograph. All this information can help the HPD catch crooks, but it seems excessive for a low-wage earner trying to pawn her bracelet to make next month’s rent.

City Councilwoman Carol Fukunaga said she will meet with the stakeholders before putting the bills on her committee’s agenda. That makes sense. The Council should work with HPD and the industry to find a middle ground.

If a private vendor can’t provide acceptable services, the city or state should consider maintain its own database. And legal and ethical questions about the privacy rights of individuals and businesses should be addressed.

But the Council should move forward with these bills. In a city where property crimes dominate the statistics, victims of burglaries could use all the help they can get.