Revere board hears call for tougher pawn shop rules

REVERE – With a slew of recent house robberies, the Revere Police Department is trying to pass an ordinance to protect the victims of these crimes and give them hope that one day they may have their precious possessions returned.At Monday night’s city council meeting, a police department representative suggested stricter restrictions on secondhand dealers and pawn shops as to when items brought into such establishments may be sold.The police are proposing that there be a 30-day hold period before the items can be sold, that every sale be digitally recorded and that the item must stay in the store for that 30-day period.”There are many drug addicts and dealers out there looking for a quick source for cash and this is how they do it,” Capt. Dennis Collyer said. “This is our attempt to trying to discover stolen property.”The current ordinance in place is that a secondhand dealer must wait 15 days to resell items.However, not everyone was in favor for the ordinance. Attorney John Cataldo was present at Monday’s meeting on behalf of the owners of The Jewelry Box on Broadway.”We believe in these tough economic times that people should have access to capital and business should have access to making it,” Cataldo said. “30 days is too tough of a restriction and may cost businesses money.”However, Collyer said, there are surrounding communities who also go by the 30-day rule like Lynn and Chelsea. “It seems to be a pretty set standard,” Collyer said.Cataldo argued, saying that surrounding towns like Marblehead and Nahant have no holding period.”I am not impressed that because Lynn or Chelsea is doing something that we should do it too. Why do you think the 30 days is necessary?” Ward 4 Councilor Stephen Reardon asked Collyer.”It gives the police enough time to find the property,” Collyer answered.Most of the councilors agreed that 30 days seem to be too much of a burden on businesses.”Fifteen days seems reasonable to me,” Councilor at Large Anthony T. Zambuto said. “This may be helpful but it is not going to stop all the junkies from breaking into homes. If they need a fix, they will do anything to get it. Also, in these times, the price of gold goes up and down every day. You could be costing a business a lot of money.”Ward 6 Councilor Charles Patch agreed. “Fifteen days seems like ample time to me,” Patch said.All were in agreement that keeping digital records made sense.”It is the 21st century. We have to start using the tools we have,” Police Chief Terrence Reardon said. “There are a million data bases out there for everything. Shame on us if we don’t do this.”The ordinance was sent to the sub-committee.Sara Brown can be reached at [email protected]