County commission asked to look at creating pawnshop ordinance
princeton – A ordinance connecting pawnshops to an easier way for reporting potentially stolen guns and other times to law enforcement has been proposed to the Mercer County Commission.
Capt. Steven Sommers with the Mercer County Sheriff's Department spoke Tuesday afternoon with the commissioners about how pawnbrokers can better work with his department.
'This is just a request for the county commission to reevaluate, with some of the new commissioners, a pawnshop ordinance,' Sommers said. 'The ordinance would mimic state code, but what we're looking for is that ordinance designate the sheriff as the individual responsible for designating to the pawnbrokers how they are to electronically record. For the last nine years we have been using Leads Online, which as law enforcement, we have to pay for that; but Leads Online allows us to search names, serial numbers, description of any pawned items, scrapped items nationwide, regionally or within the county.'
Pawnshops now report pawned items either on a paper form, an Excel spreadsheet or by fax, Sommers said. This includes reporting pawned firearms.
'Leads Online is connected to NCIC (National Crime Information Center) so any known serial number that is reported to NCIC is automatically reported as a post about a possible stolen item for investigation,' Sommers said.
Pawnbrokers can sign up to Leads Online for free.
'Leads Online will accept and digest just about any format that a pawn broker has to get that information online and they can do it absolutely free,' Sommers said. 'The only people that pay are law enforcement, so I just ask that the county revisit and look at a pawn shop ordinance.'
Sommers called Leads Online access 'a force multiplier' for the sheriff's department.
'Instead of making 100 phone calls or traveling five, six, seven, eight, 10 different pawnshops, if everybody's reporting from the computer in a keystroke, we can see if the item we are looking for is at any of the pawnshops and even initiate a case and initiate a request with the pawnshop from the computer and hey, this is stolen property and we believe it is and we are on our way,' he said.
Commission President Bill Archer said that a county pawnshop ordinance had been addressed back in 2021, but one was never implemented.
Archer asked Sommers if the commission could get sample ordinances from other places.
Sommers said the commission should have a copy of Kanawha County's pawnshop ordinance and he could get a copy of the one used in Barboursville, a town in Cabell County.
Commissioner Greg Puckett asked if the sample ordinances could be changed over to what Mercer County could use and then given to Prosecuting Attorney Brian K. Cochran for review to make sure the county is complying with state code. Once the commission is sure the proposed ordinance is in compliance, it could be presented for consideration.
Sommers said the county's cities should be asked about participating in Leads Online, too.
The ordinance could be presented in June and it would have to go through two public readings before it is enacted, Puckett said.
Contact Greg Jordan at gjordan@bdtonline.com
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