An Albany County Legislator wants to help local people get their stolen items back.
Gary Domalewicz is proposing a law that would have pawn shops and other businesses work closer with police, when customers bring in something they want to sell.
But some dealers are calling it a major inconvenience.
Right now, if a person were to sell a broken gold necklace to a shop like Singer's Jeweler in Guilderland, the owner of the store would take the seller's information, document the item, pay the customer, and be free to unload the item to a third party right away.
But if the law change proposed on Monday passes, the store owner would have to take a picture of the item, fill-in more paperwork, electronically transmit that information to Albany police, and then hold onto the item for 10 days before re-selling it.
Albany County Dealers Association President Jason Pierce says buying and selling gold and other items is big business in the Capital Region, and contends that if the proposed law passes, the buying and selling process will slow to a crawl.
Pierce said, "Communities that have passed similar laws across the United States have had absolutely no effect on the clearance rate for crimes, in other words, (it has had no effect on) the number of crimes have been solved. So, the simple fact is, what we have here is a law that will do nothing, and that will burden business owners."
Pierce says he speaks for hundreds of area dealers when he says Domalewicz should make several modifications to the proposed law before putting the matter to a vote in September.
"This law, as it is, will have no effect at all," Pierce said.
Domalewicz said, "I'm introducing a local law tonight that would require jewelry stores, pawn shops second hand dealers to file electronically to the Albany Police Department on the merchandise that they had purchased that day then a 10 day hold would be put on that product, and it would have to have a picture taken, an identification of the product, and an identification of the person who they bought it from."
The lawmaker says the main point of the law is to help crime victims.
"That's what the goal is, to return valuable personal stolen property to the victims of Albany County. And it does work," he said.
Domalewicz says Albany County District Attorney David Soares, and many local police chiefs are on board with the plan.
But some dealers say customers could end up waiting for quite a while at area stores and shops for all this new paperwork to be completed, adding that the proposal just isn't feasible for some businesses.
"I have a single member of the Albany County Dealers Association who processed 18-thousand transactions last year! Can you imagine how many people would be sitting in these chairs waiting?" Pierce said.
Other dealers wonder if the 10 day hold will affect their bottom line.
Jeffrey Singer, owner of Singer's Jewels in Guilderland said, "The only problem that I can really anticipate is that, in the event that there were a large drop off in the price of gold, and if I purchased it at one price, and it dropped a great deal in price, then I would take a loss on that."
Singer says he isn't that worried about dealing in stolen merchandise because he knows most of his customers, and always takes steps to protect the store, and deter criminals from trying to unload items at his store.
"We always make a copy of the customers' driver's license, and we make a record of what it is that we purchased as a matter of practice," he said.
Domalewicz says on Monday night Albany County Legislators approved a public hearing on the pawn proposal.
It will be held on Aug. 23 at 7:15 p.m. in the Cahill Room at 112 State Street in Albany.
Regardless of what happens at that meeting, the pawn proposal is expected to be put to a vote in September. If it passes, dealers would have 90 days to comply.
Domalewicz says similar rules have been proven to work in the City of Albany, Suffolk County and across the state of Massachusetts.
