Local pawnbrokers and their representatives raised questions this week about the city’s proposed ordinance to force pawn shops to check a state-wide “No Buy From” list before doing business.

The new ordinance, they said, would hurt their business, require undue and personal questions of customers, is unnecessary and would not address the city’s property crimes issues. They also raised questions about who manages the list and how people’s names are added and removed.

“By no means do we ever want to do business with criminals, but there are other people who are affected,” Kevin Opdahl, president of the Washington State Pawnbrokers Association, told the council.

Opdahl, as well as representatives from all of the local pawn shops, brought their concerns to the city council on Monday, even as the council approved the ordinance’s first reading and passed it on to a second reading and final reading next week.

The police department is requesting the new law because of what a memo to the council calls “a jump in property crimes in recent years” that has led to that property “showing up in our local pawn shops.”

If passed, the new law would add Renton names to a state-wide list of people convicted of burglary, robbery, theft, and possession of or receiving stolen property within the past ten years. Under state law, any pawnbroker who sells to a person on the list can be charged with a gross misdemeanor.

The city of Renton does not currently contribute to the list and local pawnbrokers are not required to check to see if a seller is active on the list. By adding the list to Renton’s Municipal Code, pawn shops in the city would be required to check the list before doing business with any individual.

The new code would also require shops to include in the sales record a copy of a valid, government-issued picture identification and the names and addresses of anyone witnessing the transaction and requires every pawnbroker to “verify the accuracy of the name and identification provided by the person with whom each transaction is had.”

Dale Elison, a district manager for FirstCash, the company that owns three Cash America pawn shops in Renton, raised questions about the additional reporting required by the ordinance. Elison said state law already requires much of the identification requirements and this proposed ordinance would go even farther.

“This law would also require us to report that person’s race, complexion and eye color,” he said.

In an interview prior to the meeting, Elison and Cash America store manager Dave Mauk explained the process by which they accept items and loan money to potential customer and said they take every precaution not to buy stolen good because it is the store that loses out. Not only would the shop lose the money given for an item, but also the item when police discovered it stolen.

“We’ve got all the risk,” Elison said and then pointed to the many surveillance cameras packing the store. “This is the worst place you can take something if you’re a bad guy.”

According to Mauk, his employees are trained to ask probing question designed to reveal if the person bringing in an item is actually familiar with it. Employees routinely ask customer to demonstrate products, use passwords to unlock electronic equipment or make a phone call.

“It’s a craft that takes time to learn,” Mauk said.

Mauk and Elison also said they already report each day to LeadsOnline, the service named in the ordinance, so officers can see the items they purchased and place any they think may be stolen on hold.

“We have very little, as a matter of fact,” Mauk said of his store’s small police hold section.

Currently, at the Cash America store on 108th Avenue, there are ten items separated out as police hold from among the 5,000-square-feet of merchandise, proof, according to Mauk, that the additional law is an unnecessary burden.

The other major question raised about the list was over its maintenance. While officers from individual cities have access to put names on the list, there seems to be some confusion over who removes the names after the 10-year period is up. In addition, Opdahl said the 10-year time frame can create problems for people who are done serving their time and just trying to get by.

Opdahl spoke of two regular customers at his Auburn store with whom he has never had issues. One is a man whom he described as a “good customer,” a person who has brought in many items to receive loans and the returned to pick up all but one. Recently, the man brought an item to the store and because Auburn recently passed a similar law, the shop ran his name and found they could no longer do business with him because of a crime more than six years ago.

“Now he wasn’t able to pay whatever bill he needed to pay,” Opdahl said.

A second customer, a woman whom he said pawns the same tools every month for $60 because her power bill comes due before her paycheck arrives, was also found to be on the list and had to be turned away.

“She just stood there in tears,” he said. “They’re throwing this net to stop current criminals but this is net is so wide its covering a lot of people.”

Opdahl also raised questions about if second-hand stores and coin and metal-buying shops would also be subject to the regulations, as state law dictates.

He then said that if there are stores that appear to be bad actors or problems, he and his association would like to see that become the focus instead of the industry.

“Maybe we need to sit down with that shop,” he said.

Council members requested more information on how the list is maintained, but passed the ordinance forward for a second reading next week.

Following a public safety committee meeting during which the item was discussed, councilman Ed Prince said despite some question, he supported the measure because he felt it was incumbent on the city to enforce the state law. While he said he was concerned it may have a negative effect on the businesses, he thought the positives outweighed the negatives.

“The law says ‘x,’” he said. “And I stand by what the law says.”