11-25-13 Common Council Agenda & Packet

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Bill No. Ordinance No. AN ORDINANCE OF THE COMMON COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SOUTH BEND, INDIANA, AMENDING VARIOUS SECTIONS WITHIN CHAPTER 4, ARTICLE 4 OF THE SOUTH BEND MUNICIPAL CODE REQUIRING ELECTRONIC REPORTING OF TRANSACTIONS BY PRECIOUS METALS DEALERS REGULATED IN SECTION 4-44, BY SCRAP METAL DEALERS, JUNK DEALERS, VALUABLE METAL DEALERS AND RECYCLING OPERATIONS REGULATED BY SECTION 4-51 AND BY SECONDHAND STORES REGULATED IN SECTION 4-53 STATEMENT OF PURPOSE AND INTENT With the aid of the latest technology, there are much greater opportunities to track and recover stolen property. Online systems are now available where valuable personal property items such as cell phones, electronics, cameras, GPS units, construction equipment, tools, manhole covers, bronze cemetery vases,jewelry and other valuables can be identified accurately from a database and viewed by participating law enforcement agencies throughout the country. The City Administration and the South Bend Common Council believe that the proposed changes addressed in this ordinance which would require persons who own or operate businesses who deal with precious metals, scrap metal, junk, valuable metals, and secondhand stores to participate in electronic reporting of their transactions are in the best interests of the city. Such participation would enable the South Bend Police Department to have rapid electronic access to transactions fi-om reporting businesses. By daily monitoring such information, possible criminal activity can be identified in a proactive manner. When stolen property is located, valuables may be returned to the victim of the crime by using such electronic reporting systems more quickly. The Common Council notes that the Fort Wayne Police Department has successfully used LeadsOnline since 2007. FWPD reports that by using LeadsOnline that "...police have recovered thousands of dollars in stolen property for Fort Wayne and surrounding residents...with information provided by LeadsOnline, police track down thieves, develop leads in numerous cases and make arrests." Similar success stories are reported by the New York City Police Department, the Dallas Police Department and the San Francisco Police Department just to name a few. The South Bend Police Department has recommended to the Common Council that LeadsOnline would be the best electronic reporting service available. The Council has found that "LeadsOnline is the nation's largest online investigative system used by more than 3,000 law enforcement agencies to recover stolen property and solve crimes. Each day, millions of items are added to the LeadsOnline database by businesses including second-hand stores, scrap metal recyclers, pawnshops, and Internet drop-off stores across all 50 states. Those records are instantly available to lame enforcement agencies, meaning crimes can be solved in seconds, not months." LeadsOnline is compatible with the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) which is a computerized index of criminal justice information available 24/7 to federal, state and local law enforcement agencies. It is an official eBay partner and helps prevent illegal transactions on the eBay website by giving law enforcement access to their transactions. For all of these reasons. LeadsOnline is the preferred provider and is so referenced to provide the services which are in the best interests of the City of South Bend. The South Bend Common Council believes it is important for the South Bend Police Department and South Bend citizens to have available, in a timely manner for law enforcement purposes, data regarding items pawned, sold, purchased or exchanged at by businesses required to be licensed as precious metal dealers, as scrap metal dealers,junk dealers, valuable metal dealers, recycling operators, and as secondhand stores.