Politics & Government

Tinley Park Considering Pawn Shop Ordinance Change

Following a research project by Police Chief Phil Valois, Tinley Park could switch from paper to electronic tracking methods for transactions at two pawn shops in the village.

Tinley Park is home to numerous businesses, from car dealerships to restaurants, but two specific shops have drawn the attention of the village board recently.

The two businesses are pawn shops that buy and sell items— , 15944 S. Harlem Ave., and , 7725 W. 159th St.

Though Tinley Park has an ordinance in place for tracking the purchase and resale of items by the two shops, Interim Police Chief Phil Valois was asked by Village Manager Scott Niehaus to review possible changes to the current ordinance.

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There were three options under review by Valois, with the first being that the village would simply keep its current ordinance in place.

The ordinance states that pawn shops must provide weekly hard-copy transaction forms to the village. According to Collectors Gallery owner Sherry Rizzuti, this can entail turning in more than 100 pieces of paper to the police department with customers’ personal information and detailed descriptions of items bought or sold.

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“Some weeks it's actually much higher (than 100),” Rizzuti said. “They're just so overloaded with paperwork.”

The second and third options involve transferring all the current paperwork to an electronic system. Option two for the village would be to have transaction information electronically submitted via email. The emails would then be able to be reviewed only by the county sheriff and the Tinley Park police. This option mirrors a recent ordinance change in Frankfort.

“We could do it that way, but that decision has not been made yet,” Valois said.

The third option, which is favored by Valois, would be for the village to subscribe to the LeadsOnline system. The system is a national database for pawn businesses to enter their transactions into, which can then be viewed by any law enforcement agency that subscribes to the program.

“LeadsOnline will make it much easier for us to search what they take in,” Valois said. “It will be more effective, and I think it will be easier for them (too). It'll be better for us to search what they're taking in and we can search specific items.”

A subscription to the system costs $3,600 per year, which is the one negative for the village, according to Valois.

Though there are no items on the agenda pertaining to changing the ordinance at the next village board meeting on Tuesday (Aug. 16), Valois said he thinks the village board could vote on the matter in the near future.


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