February 10, 2006

Pasadena, Texas

PPD's Criminal Investigations Division Property Unit recently passed a very successful one-year anniversary using their L.E.A.D.S. Online stolen property database, with City Council reauthorizing the system for another year.

The software is the nation’s largest investigative system used by law enforcement to solve crimes involving property. It has a combined database of 60 million records that grows by approximately 100,000 records each business day. The statistics, as well as the reports of those involved in recovering stolen property, indicate the new system is making a significant impact on this type of crime in our community.

Detective Jason Shirley says the new system has brought property pawn shop recovery "into the 21st century." The Property Unit no longer has to physically survey pawn shops to see if items reported as stolen are there. Now, pawn shop owners use daily web-based uploads of required property identifiers to PPD. These are checked against reports of stolen property and matches show up immediately. Shirley says the new software has cut the time to clear cases from two months to two weeks in many cases.

Results aren't limited to time saved, either. PPD estimates that 80 suspects have been apprehended from L.E.A.D.S.-generated information over the past 12 months. And the value of property recovered over the same period is in excess of $100,000. It also frees up administrative time, greatly lessening the need for clerical assistance in entering the information into PPD's database of stolen property.

Shirley says they currently have eight pawn shops in the Pasadena area using totally electronic information transfers of property identifiers, with another four shops participating but still using hard copy media rather than browser uploads. He is pleased with the support pawn shop owners have given the new system, helping to improve the efficiency of recovering property from their businesses.

And since more and more jurisdictions are sharing this type of information, thieves can no longer step across city limit lines to dispose of their stolen merchandise. Area police departments are actively cooperating in the information sharing, with more departments across the state coming online all the time. The window of easy, low-risk disposal of stolen items at Pasadena pawnshops is rapidly closing.

Detective Shirley has a suggestion for property owners that will help make recovery of stolen goods more likely, should owners face that situation. Serial numbers of goods, particularly electronic items, should be recorded and stored to aid recovery. And owners should consider etching an identifier such as a driver's license number onto items attractive to thieves. This will greatly assist in tracking down the rightful owner of the property and returning it to them.

(L.E.A.D.S.ONLINE CLIENT – PASADENA, TX POLICE DEPARTMENT)