Oak Park trustees gave a preliminary green light to a request from police to require pawn brokers and resale shops to use an online database program that will abet cops in tracking down stolen goods.

As a corollary, shops that buy and sell goods-whether it’s gold or compact discs-would need to follow the same laws governing pawnshops.

The village board approved moving ahead with the proposed legislative changes at a special meeting Monday night.

Police already collect and check information on goods sold to pawn brokers. The database program-whose tires the police kicked in a 30-day trial-would ensure more legible records and would put the information into a searchable format.

“Rather than pore over records looking for who pawned a red bicycle, we can just punch in ‘red bicycle,'” said Police Chief Rick Tanksley.

Trustees agreed that the program’s $6,000 price tag was worth the expense, in part because the cost would be offset by time it would free for the detective who monitors pawnshops.

Tanksley said the program would not impose a burden in terms of processing the information required to be sent to police, but the board did not address the fairness of requiring pawn brokers and resale shops to pay $4,000 to $6,000 a year to use the program. One broker, Cash America, 6303 North Ave., already uses the software, which Tanksley described as a sort of accounting program for pawnshops.

The program, called l.e.a.d.s.online (Law Enforcement Automated Database Search), claims to be used by more than 400 law enforcement agencies in the United States, including those in Evanston, Flossmoor, Country Club Hills and Will County.

Village Atty. Ray Heise said that in rewriting the law, he will clearly separate pawn and resale shops from nonprofit stores, such as the Brown Elephant, 217 Harrison St., or the Economy Shop, 103 S. Grove Ave.

Pawnshops, which are now required to keep video recordings of all transactions for 30 days, will be required to upgrade to digital recordings that will be kept longer. Tanksley asked that those pawning goods be required to have a government-issued photo ID card and leave a thumbprint.

Resale shops could face the same restrictions, Asst. Village Manager Ray Wiggins said. He added that village staff would seek feedback from the business community before drafting changes in the law. Those changes are expected to be back before the board in 4-6 weeks.

CONTACT: dcarter@wjinc.com

Public hearing ahead for liquor laws

Oak Park will invite the public to comment on proposed changes to its liquor laws; however, no major changes are proposed.

The biggest change proposed would be to allow “lounge” establishments-restaurants with bar areas-to serve restaurant patrons liquor without requiring them to order what the law now calls a “complete meal,” said John Martin, the outgoing chair of the Liquor Control Review Board.

Martin said the liquor board, when reviewing the village’s liquor laws, wondered how the “complete meal” stipulation could be enforced. “It seems to us to be wildly impractical,” Martin said.

The public hearing on the changes has not been scheduled and awaits the first draft of the would-be laws by Village Atty. Ray Heise. Village Clerk Sandra Sokol, who was involved in creating the proposed changes, said the matter likely would not come before the village board for final approval until fall.

Changes are also recommended for these areas of the liquor ordinance: eligibility of licensees (dropping the requirement that they need to live in Oak Park), signage, corking (incorporating a new state law that allows for taking home an unfinished bottle of wine), delivery, and the separation required between package liquor sales and non-liquor stock in stores.

Heise suggested the village impose restrictions on the maximum number of licenses, then adjust that number whenever a license was added or taken away. Doing so would give the village greater flexibility in denying licenses and would protect it from the state’s appeals process.

When Trustee Greg Marsey asked whether the question of allowing bars should be part of the discussion, he heard “no” a few times.

Heise said the ordinance has always made the distinction that the sale of liquor is an “accessory” to the sale of food.

Martin said, “There hasn’t been a great outcry to change that part of the ordinance.”

And Jerry Ostergaard, the liquor board’s new chair, said that lounges function as bars.

Sokol recommended that liquor license fees be raised to reflect the cost of their management to the village, and that an application fee be imposed.

-Drew Carter

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