Minding the store
Pawnbrokers are fighting back against new laws that let cops keep a closer eye on them and their customers
Candis McLean - April 18, 2005
Jason Wright is fighting to keep his customers' information private--even if he has to break the law to do it. The owner of Discount Dave's Pawnbroker in Wetaskiwin, Alta., is livid that the city is considering passing a bylaw that will allow local police to monitor the names of all pawnshop clients and their transactions via an electronic network monitored by a third party. "Even if they push through a bylaw, we are not going to comply. We'll take it to court," says Wright.
Law enforcement groups are demanding increased access to pawnbrokers' records to better monitor the sale of stolen goods. But some brokers call the plan overzealous. Already, pawnshops provide local police with a list of pawned goods and serial numbers. When cops spot stolen merchandise, shop owners (who keep records of clients' personal information) provide the name of the seller. It's been that way for 100 years and Wright's more than happy to continue co-operating. But of all the inventory that moves through his shop in a year, he says only one tenth of a per cent is stolen. Last year, he says, that meant three items.
The Alberta Association of Chiefs of Police claims that $2 million's worth of stolen inventory was recovered from pawnshops in Edmonton and Calgary in 2001 alone. They're proposing legislation that would force all Albertan pawnbrokers to enter all transactions, including client names and personal details, into an Internet database, to be accessed on demand by police.
Saskatchewan instituted an electronic system in 2003, using the data-sharing software of Regina-based law enforcement technology company Business Watch International. As pawned items are entered into the computer, they are automatically cross-checked against a national database of stolen property records from the Canadian Police Information Centre. If there's a match between a serial number or description of an item reported stolen anywhere in Canada, officers can order the pawnbroker to hold the property until they arrive to investigate. Corporal Dean Fedor, pawnshop co-ordinator with the Regina Police Service, says last year his officers recovered $200,000 worth of stolen goods from pawnshops, four times more than under the manual system. "Once we can see daily activities, time pawned, and where items are coming from, it creates a mushroom effect, leading to the solving of other crimes," he says. Two men suspected of throwing a Moose Jaw man from a third-floor balcony in 2002, for example, were tracked to Alberta, thanks to a trail of stolen goods pawned en route and logged digitally. "It's a thing of the future," Fedor says. "If a person has privacy concerns, he can take his business elsewhere--to a fence, a garage sale or EBay."
Maybe that's what brokers are worried about. And although Saskatchewan is the only province to institute the BWI system, bylaws in Medicine Hat and Camrose, Alta., and eight centres in the Toronto area, require pawnbrokers there to participate. Pilot projects are underway in Winnipeg and Toronto, and several businesses in Calgary use the system on a voluntary basis. On March 1, Edmonton council made automated reporting mandatory in that city. A BWI competitor, meanwhile, is lobbying Vancouver city council.
The B.C. Civil Liberties Association argues that the computerized process permits a search and seizure action without obtaining a bench warrant and that targeting pawnshop customers is discriminatory. In a letter to the B.C. privacy commissioner last July, BCCLA policy director Michael Vonn noted that the information collected by brokers "must conform to privacy legislation and may not be disclosed to police except where there is a warrant, a court order, subpoena, or the business itself is making a criminal complaint against the customer in question."
Tom Millette, president of BWI, which is 94.3 per cent owned by Crown corporation SaskTel, says privacy concerns are unfounded. "We are government-owned," he says. "Secure data is our bread and butter; if it fails, we won't be in business." He argues, the growth of the pawnshop business, and the amount of merchandise without a serial number (DVDs, CDs, jewelry, etc.), makes the old paper system unworkable.
But Wright says there are options that don't force his customers to divulge personal details without cause. "We're all for helping recover stolen goods," says Wright. "And if something's proven to be stolen, then the client has forfeited his rights. But until that time, he is innocent and deserves privacy."