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TO: dlfB�L�I :TI� SUBJ: Suggested Minimum Language for APS Compliant Ordinances The following information is provided as a guide for police departments and attorneys engaged in developing or modifying pawnbroker ordinances in Minnesota. Its use will enable jurisdictions to implement and mandate use of the Automated Pawn SystemM (APSTM)and effectively regulate pawn shops more efficiently. Minnesota Statutes 1996 325J Pawnbrokers, sets certain minimum regulatory requirements, and then specifically enables local governments to adopt more restrictive laws related to pawnbrokers. The genesis for most of the language herein is Title 14 of the Minneapolis Code of Ordinances, Chapter 324 Pawnbrokers (MCO 324)which was unanimously passed by the City council in December, 1995. It is the first ordinance to specifically mandate the use of the Automated Pawn System'"' and the billable transaction fee cost recovery model. Since then, numerous other communities have used it as a template in re-writing their pawn (and in some cases, secondhand dealer) ordinances. Readers are encouraged to review the ordinances in order to better understand how the use of APS, and the billable transaction fee regulatory model it supports, enables communities to recover their total cost of regulating these businesses. The following elements should be included in new or revised pawnbroker ordinances. ASSUMPTIONS: These suggestions assume: 1) That all pawn shops in a given jurisdiction will be required to report their transactions electronically via APS. 2) That the jurisdiction is implementing the use of billable transaction fees to recover their costs of regulation. STYLES USED: ♦ (WHEN APPROPRIATE, EXPLANATIONS OR BACKGROUND ON ELEMENTS ARE CAPITALIZED AND ITALICIZED IN PARENTHESIS.) • Language specifically required for implementing and using the Automated Pawn SystemTM service is underlined. Purpose.The city council finds that use of services provided by pawnbrokers provides an opportunity for the commission of crimes and their concealment because pawn businesses have the ability to receive and transfer property stolen by others easily and quickly. The city council also finds that consumer protection regulation is warranted in transactions involving pawnbrokers. The city council further finds that the pawn industry has outgrown the city's current ability to effectively or efficiently identify criminal activity related to pawn shops. The purpose of this chapter is to prevent pawn businesses from being used as facilities for the commission of crimes, and to assure that such businesses comply with basic consumer protection standards, thereby protecting the public health, safety, and general welfare of the citizens of the city. To help the police department better regulate current and future pawn businesses decrease and stabilize costs associated with the regulation of the pawn industry, and increase identification of criminal activities in the pawn industry through the timely Collection and sharing of pawn transaction information this chapter also implements and establishes the required use of the automated pawn system (APS). APS PAWN ORD LANGUAGE Rev 1.1.doc 1