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make loans and secondhand goods dealers are not. Another difference is that some of the items <br />that a pawn shop can receive, a secondhand goods dealer cannot. Secondhand goods dealers <br />consign or purchase goods for resale. Sporting goods, clothing, antiques, and media are <br />commonly sold by these dealers. By City Code, both currently pay $5,000 per year for a license. <br />The license amount is to cover the costs of the Police Department's added filing time and <br />investigative time spent dealing with these types of businesses. Staff has reviewed the <br />pawnbroker code to determine if there is a perceived undue hardship on secondhand goods <br />dealers. After reviewing the code, it appears because of the differences in these businesses, that a <br />new ordinance should be created specifically for secondhand dealers. The license fee, which is <br />charged for the department's investigative time could be decreased. Time would be reduced due <br />to decreased volume, value of property, and monitoring fewer types of property. Staff is <br />reviewing this ordinance to determine if implementation of an Automated Pawn System would <br />enhance the Police Departments investigative capabilities, in a cost effective manner. The APS <br />Automated Pawn System (APS) was initiated in 1997 by the Minneapolis Police Department. <br />APS decreases and stabilizes the cost of regulation and enforcement of the City's pawn and <br />secondhand dealers ordinances, improves Police service and effectiveness, enables law <br />enforcement agencies to share pawn/secondhand transaction information electronically, and <br />increase the recovery of stolen property. With APS, pawn and secondhand dealers use software <br />to report pawn activity into a central repository. (Ralph's Gun and Pawn is already using this <br />software for their in-house database). The City now receives transaction reports fi'om Ralph's, <br />which are then entered into a database at the Police Department. With APS, the transactions are <br />downloaded into the system directly from the pawnshop, eliminating a second entry process at <br />the Police Department. The database at the Police Department does not have sharing capabilities <br />and, therefore, other police agencies must contact the City's department directly to inquire about <br />pawn activity. <br /> <br />City Administrator Norman noted that they are trying to get new commercial businesses in the <br />City of Ramsey such as Play it Again Sports, second hand children clothes, but the current <br />ordinance limits the businesses and becomes expensive. <br /> <br />Captain Dwyer presented an ordinance for secondhand dealers from Minneapolis, which was <br />reviewed by the City Attorney. He explained that staff was looking for direction to proceed with <br />the changes. <br /> <br />Councilmember Elvig inquired if the overall sense was that there is not as many criteria or <br />problematic situations with a secondhand dealer as there is in a pawnshop. <br /> <br />Captain Dwyer replied that that was correct. <br /> <br />Councilmember Elvig inquired if the Police Department staff felt that the proposed ordinance <br />would address any of the problems they might see. <br /> <br />Captain Dwyer explained that from the preliminary review of the ordinance it is a very good <br />coverall. <br /> <br />City Council Work Session/March 4, 2003 <br /> Page 7 of 16 <br /> <br /> <br />