Database helps police fight crime

Database helps police fight crime

-Pawn shops, police agencies can track whether items are stolen

By Camille C. Spencer
caspencer@jackson.gannett.com

February 10, 2005

An online database designed to retrieve stolen goods and catch suspects who commit property crimes has been implemented by the Jackson Police Department, officials said Wednesday. Local pawn shops and Jackson police partnered this week in a 30-day trial of LEADS Online, or Law Enforcement Automated Database Search, an Internet-based system where pawn-shop owners go online and record the serial number, make and model of each item brought into a pawn shop, said Cooper Smith, company spokesman.

Once an item is recorded, law enforcement agencies can sign onto LEADS Online and access the item for up to 60 days to determine the origin and track if the item is stolen, Smith said. Chief Robert Moore said the database will give the police department "an edge in fighting stolen property crimes in the city."

According to JPD's ComStat report of crime statistics, there were 126 property crimes from Jan. 31 to Feb. 6, the most recent figures available. There were 162 property crimes the previous week. Property crimes include auto burglary, auto theft, business burglary, grand larceny and house burglary. Brian Smith, president of USA Pawn, said he doesn't want stolen merchandise in any of his six stores in Jackson. "It (the database) will help deter criminals from using pawn shops for fencing," Smith said.

Locations

Five tri-county pawnshops donated a computer to Jackson Police Department on Wednesday to launch LEADS Online:

· USA Pawn, 203 Woodrow Wilson Drive

· Big Daddy's Scrap Gold Exchange & Fine Jewelry, 4463 N. State St.

· Charlie's Pawn Shop, 5320 Clinton Blvd.

· Discount Pawn & Jewelry Corp., 3770 U.S. 80

· DJ's Silver Mine, 4631 I-55 N

LEADS Online made its way to Jackson after company officials made a presentation here three years ago, said Lt. Al LeDoux of JPD's pawn shop unit. LeDoux said he then began pushing for a program to increase efficiency when recording stolen items and arresting suspects.

"Under the old system, pawn shops were printing hard copies of all their transactions about three times a week," LeDoux said. "The data entry [workers] were getting behind, and we weren't doing any good. The only items we recovered were from victims who saw their items in a pawn shop and recovered them."

The database is used by 315 law enforcement agencies nationwide in 18 states, including Mississippi. The Richland Police Department, Ridgeland Police Department and the Rankin County Sheriff's Department use the database.

Lt. Robert Jordan of Richland Police said his agency used LEADS Online for the past three months. He said over time, property crime statistics could drop as much as 10 percent. "It's aided us in several instances of recovering stolen property and making arrests," he said.

Matt Herndon, project manager at Real Estate Solutions in Jackson, had computers, personal digital assistants, keyboards and a 27-inch TV stolen in November. Some of the merchandise has been recovered, he said. "Any system they had in the past is obviously no good," Herndon said. "Anything they can do to streamline their process for finding stolen goods is beneficial."