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Pawn Shop Records



Don,

Your comment about not being able to retrieve gun records on line reminded
me of a very interesting article I just read in the August 01 issue of
Government Technology called "Ending the Pawnshop Paper Trail."  It seems
pawn shops are required to submit records of transactions that are later
used by investigators, but the handwritten documents that are hard to read
and submitted snail mail slow down the research process.  Cities in two
states, CA and MN, conducted pilot projects that required pawnshop owners
and owners of second-hand shops to submit information gathered from
customers eletronically.  The results were positive - In MN, hits on stolen
property have increased 300 percent since the system was implemented, and
voluntary participation on the part of other pawn shop and second-hand store
owners is growing.  And the LAPD reported using their system to track
illegal guns and make about 40 arrests a year as a result.

The problem with expanding these systems statewide and nationally is an
argument over workable standards.  In addition, neither system allowed
public access to the information.  Perhaps that type of information would be
too useful to the criminal element if it were available via the Internet?

If you want to read this and other articles online or receive a free
subscription to the print version, the URL is:
http://www.govtech.net/magazine/.

PatF


----- Original Message -----
From: "Don Saklad" <dsaklad@GNU.ORG>
To: <ARCHIVES@LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU>
Sent: Sunday, August 26, 2001 7:04 AM
Subject: How Public Should Public Records Be? Friday 24 August 2001
http://slashdot.org


> How Public Should Public Records Be?
>
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=20872&cid=0&pid=0&startat=&threshold=-1&;
mode=nested&commentsort=1&op=Change
>
> http://slashdot.org/articles/01/08/24/0426229.shtml
>
> ...
>
> [ ...more ]
>
> ...
>
>                     How Public Should Public Records Be?
>
>           Privacy Posted by michael on Friday August 24, @06:12AM
>                   from the you-too-can-be-a-stalker dept.
>    Hobobo writes: "This article on the New York Times talks about whether
>     public records that are available in local government offices should
>     or shouldn't be available online. It also talks about the "practical
>    obscurity" of people checking files in police offices and whatnot, and
>     public records on the internet are "too public," and the privacy and
>    freedom of information issues involved." If you'd like to try it, you
>                      can use "Giuliani" and "5/28/44".
>
> ...
>
> [ more,,, ]
>
> ...
>
>    Guns (Score:1)
>    by electroniceric on Sunday August 26, @03:18AM (#2217718)
>    (User #468976 Info)
>    Out of mere curiosity I can find out what STD's my neighbor got tested
>    for in less than 100 keystrokes.
>    Yet we can't manage to do background checks on someone who wants to
>    buy a GUN?
>    Our country has a lot of great things, but we definitely have some
>    priorities out of whack.
>
> ...
>
> [ more... ]
> http://slashdot.org/articles/01/08/24/0426229.shtml
>
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=20872&cid=0&pid=0&startat=&threshold=-1&;
mode=nested&commentsort=1&op=Change
>
> A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List!
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> Problems?  Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <rschmidt@lib.muohio.edu>
>

A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List!

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Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at
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Problems?  Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <rschmidt@lib.muohio.edu>