Aldermen to Vote on Pawn Shop Law Tonight

Michael DellaPaolera has been working in the family pawn shop business for 20 years, relocating here from Lowell, Mass., five years ago.

When asked what he thought about the pending revisions to the city's pawn shop law, up for a vote during tonight's Aldermanic meeting, DellaPaolera said he hadn't been informed by the city of the changes.

"It would've been nice to get a letter or something, in case I wanted to go to any of the meetings," said DellaPaolera, who operates on Broad Street.

He said he's glad to know they will be cracking down on licensed pawn shops, requiring them to submit daily digital records of items they take, and extending the holding period from two weeks to 30 days.

"That'd be great for me. I tried to do that when we opened here five years ago. My software is set up to send digital information, but the city wasn't set up for it. The way it is right now is more work for me," DellaPaolera said.

"I always hold items longer anyway. They require two weeks, but I always hold for 30 days," DellaPaolera said.

Of the 24 licensed pawn brokers in the city, DellaPaolera says he's the only one operating as a "true pawn shop."

"A true pawn broker only gives loans on valuables; everyone else just wants to give you money and cash in on your valuables," DellaPaolera said. "The customers I deal with, they need valuables back, so I give them a loan on their valuables. That's  how I make my money. Unlike everyone else, I don't want their valuables. The rest of them are in on the 'modern day gold rush,' as I call it."

Tonight the Board of Aldermen is scheduled to vote on a revision to the existing Pawn and Secondhand Shop ordinance, which also includes scrap yards that buy and sell commodities, including copper.

Alderman Lori Wilshire has taken the lead on introducing this legislation, which has been a long time coming.

She noted that with 11 of the 15 aldermen signed on as sponsors, the support for change is "overwhelming" and comes in response to the ongoing problem of stolen goods, from jewelry to copper plumbing, being pawned or scrapped for money in Nashua.

"It makes sense. What's been going on is criminal, people going into buildings and stealing copper; that's not OK. We need some consistency in how we get and keep records. If you've never seen the books, it's all on paper in books you have to flip through. Getting this information on a regional database makes a whole lot of sense to me," said Wilshire.

Giving both police and victims more time to recover stolen goods is the bottom line, Wilshire said.

The current requirement, of holding goods sold to pawn shops for just 14 days, is not enough time to recover items that may have been stolen.

"I got and email this morning from a woman who said her diamond rings were stolen from her house, and she went and found them herself, in a jewelry store; she feels like one of the lucky ones, to get back her jewelery, and she's planning to come and speak in favor of this change tonight," Wilshire said.

Nashua Police Lt. Michael Moushegian said of the 24 licensed pawn shops and second-hand dealers in the city, only about half are compliant with the current reporting system. The changes should make it easier for the businesses to report items that come through.

He estimates police take in between 1,000 to 2,000 reports each month from pawn shops and second-hand dealers.

"Right now we rely on their voluntary compliance. If this passes, after April 1 everyone will be required to follow our new format. The plan is to create a way to do it via our website so that it's easier for businesses and the process is more uniform on our end," Moushegian said.

The proposal will require all pawnbrokers and dealers to file their daily reports in an electronic format that will be standardized by police, Moushegian said. And all property will have to be photographed and sent in an electronic file, he said.

DellaPaolera said if he'd had the opportunity to weigh in, he would have suggested the city stop issuing new "pawn shop" licenses to businesses, and review the ones currently licensed for second-hand sales.

"They should think about not giving out any more licenses – they have people at video stores buying gold, and at the FedEx store. Basically they're giving licenses to everybody and their sister," DellaPaolera said.  "If they're having trouble keeping up with all the shops, they could easily have had their hands wrapped around this if they weren't so lenient giving out licenses."