A proposed Kalispell city ordinance to aid police in locating stolen goods has been revised in response to suggestions by pawn shops and other secondhand dealers.

The updated and annotated version of the Kalispell City Council’s proposed ordinance regarding electronic filing of secondhand inventory is now available on the city’s website.

The ordinance would require both pawn shops and secondhand stores to use software called Leads, which would connect the inventory of those businesses to the Kalispell Police Department.

The original ordinance was reviewed at an Oct. 6 council meeting, but local pawn shop owners and employees attended the meeting to voice concerns about vague wording, which they thought left room for loopholes and confusion.

“We already do a lot of this stuff, logging purchases and checking IDs,” said Kenny Stiffler, pawnbroker at Anything Pawn in Kalispell. “We’re OK with using an online system. But some things need to be clarified or worded better in the ordinance.”

Many of the edits clarified definitions in the ordinance, such as adding auction houses to fall under the same rules as pawn brokers, since they deal with similar items, as well as removing the terms “junk” and “scrap,” since they’re a matter of opinion.

One main concern for pawn shop owners and employees is the amount of privacy it could potentially remove from the buyer. According to the ordinance, pawn brokers would be required to record the name of anyone who purchases an item from a pawn shop or secondhand store. Pawnbrokers worry that their customers will not want to volunteer this information when they purchase items.

However, this section was added to the ordinance because it is already mandated in Montana Code in Section 31-1-402, according to Kalispell Chief of Police, Roger Nasset.

“This was already part of state law, and has been for around fifty years,” said Nasset. “We understand that this is a change, so people do get worried. But this law has been in place since before most of these pawn shops started their business.”

Stiffler and several other pawn shop owners voiced concern that the system only locates stolen goods after the pawn shop has paid money for them. When the stolen item is returned to the owner, the pawn shop is out the money they originally paid for the item. These brokers said they would feel comfortable using the system if it worked both ways.

“If we could search the system for serial numbers or items [known to be stolen] when someone brought something in, we could hold the item or person until the police showed up,” Stiffler said. “That way, we’re not out money, and we catch the person before it’s too late.”

First National Pawn has been using the Leads system for nearly two years, and say it’s a simple process.

“It’s very straightforward,” said pawn broker Mike Ovik. “It takes around five minutes at the end of every day.”

Ovik said the company keeps a record of the 40 to 50 pawns and purchases it makes during the day, and uploads these to the Leads nationwide database at the end of each workday so law enforcement officers across the country can search for stolen items.

“It’s been easy enough for us so far,” he said. “I don’t see a problem if you’re doing honest business.”

Both pawn shops sent representation to the Oct. 6 council meeting, and plan to attend a public workshop scheduled for Oct. 27. At the workshop, the council will continue to hear concerns, and attempt to fix the document before it is brought to the next City Council meeting.

“I was happy to hear the council table it,” Stiffler said. “Most of them said they had never been in a pawn shop, or only browsed, and they said they didn’t understand how it works. It was a relief to know they’re not going to pass something they don’t understand.”

Reporter Brianna Loper may be reached at 758-4441 or by email at bloper@dailyinterlake.com