Phenix City to Vote on Online Investigation System
Heather Jensen
September 18, 2007
Getting rid of used goods could get more high-tech in Phenix City, at least behind the counter.
Mike Watford of Uptown Jewelry and Pawn is a pawn shop pro.
“Fixing to celebrate our 20 year anniversary,” he says.
Watson buys and sells everything from jewelry to guns. Up until now, he's
had to keep a paper
record of those transactions, which he turns over to police.
“They physically come by and pick the reports up and take them back to the
station with them,”
he says.
Police investigators use the records to help track down any goods that may be
stolen. But a
new ordinance before city council could require pawn shop dealers to submit those records
electronically.
“It’ll make it easier for us to see what's being sold and what's being bought
on a daily basis,”
says Assistant Phenix City Police Chief Ray Smith.
The system is called LeadsOnline.
The nationwide database puts records of re-sold items at
the fingertips of investigators. From there, it's an electronic match game.
“If it's already been reported as stolen we can match things up based on the
records we're receiving,”
Smith says.
Not only can the online investigative system help find stolen property, it has
also been credited
with finding two murder suspects in Texas and a burglary suspect in Oklahoma. All were caught
trying to re-sell goods.
Mike Watford is happy to save on his usual paperwork, and happier to know new
technology won't
change his old business.
“This isn't going to change anything as far as the way we do business or
anything like that,” he says.
Phenix City council members are expected to approve a similar ordinance for scrap metal yards and
internet drop off sites that sell second-hand goods.
A final vote on both ordinances will be held at the next council meeting,
Tuesday, October 2.
For more information:
The LeadsOnline system was established in 2000. Currently, it's used by
700 law enforcement
agencies in 28 states. More than 130,000 items are added to the LeadsOnline database daily.
WRBL, Media General
Phenix City
Phenix City Police Get New Weapon To Fight Crime
Sep 18, 2007 05:33 PM CDT
The Phenix City police department has a new weapon in the fight against crime and it could
bring thieves to justice all across the country. It's a database that catalogs inventory received
by pawn shops and scrap metal dealers.
Over the past several months Phenix City police have seen many air conditioning units ripped
apart as thieves search for copper to sale and make a profit. But a new data base called
LeadsOnline will help law enforcement quickly locate the criminals. Tuesday morning, city
council members discussed two new ordinances that will affect metal recyclers and pawn
shops. "These two ordinances basically will require records that are already mandated to
be kept by the state, that these records be reported to the department electronically. We
can see them on a daily basis," said Assistant Police Chief Ray Smith.
Officers say in the past, police officers had to undergo the time-consuming process of
visiting individual stores collecting paper tickets and then manually filing them. But this
new system does not limit law enforcement to Phenix City. "If property is stolen in
Phenix City it's pawned in Opelika or Montgomery. We can see that same data
on the same database. So it expands our reach to see data outside local businesses,"
said Smith.
So now if a copper theft is reported, this new electronic system will help cut down
investigation time. "We use that information to go back and try to link that person
to the crime scene physically either with fingerprints or footprints. That evidence will
help us make an arrest," said Smith.
Phenix City police say right now the system is already in place in Opelika, Birmingham,
and Montgomery.
The two new ordinances that will require metal and pawn shops to electronically send
the information is supposed to be voted on at the next council meeting.