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Viewpoint: Waiting Period for Resale Thwarts Thieves
By Raymond Carpenter
October 24, 2007 |
Reading the Sept. 18 "Viewpoint" from Gary D. Goedken of UNIQ Coins in Green Bay, Wis., one time was not enough, so I re-read the article to make sure I had properly understood the direction of his views.
First, please let me acknowledge that I have never been to Green Bay and I am not familiar with the crime in Green Bay, but I am assuming that the Green Bay Police Department has had some problems with break-ins of people's homes in the greater Green Bay area and have struggled with ways in which to put an end to that problem.
Nearly 30 years ago when I was very active in the buying and selling of coins, jewelry and other collectible items in the city of New Bedford, Mass., a similar law was adopted and proved successful in re-uniting residents with many of the items that were stolen from their homes. Those who did have the valuable items returned were grateful for the cooperation of the police and the businesses that offered to buy valuable items through radio, newspaper or phone book ads, as well as making purchases at flea markets. This local ordinance followed the sudden rise in the silver and gold prices where silver climbed to $50 per ounce and gold to $800 per ounce. When that happened many homes were to become targets for the thieves.
We were requested by the law to record all purchases, no matter the dollar value and require that all purchases had to be listed with information from a proper form of identification. If the seller refused to offer the identification then the business person was to stop the purchase and notify the police of the type of items offered and any help with description of the person selling the item/items.
When a purchase was made with proper identification the item was placed in a special case which was to hold all purchases for a period of 30 days and was available for customers to view. If they had interest they would know they had to return after the 30 days expired and make the purchase.
In the meantime, police officers, who were usually in plainclothes, came to these business on a weekly basis and viewed the items purchased. Should they have a police report with them and located matching items from that list, the victims where called. If they properly identified the items then they went home very happy knowing that they would be re-united with their property very soon after the police photographed them.
If 30 days passed then the store owner could sell the items and even if the people later realized items were missing and were reported to the police too late, it was not the store owner's responsibility as they had obeyed the 30-day law. Sometimes when that happened the police then could follow up by taking the purchase identification information and seek out the seller. Should items be found to have been stolen, the store owners lost the money they had paid the thief unless of course a reward was offered, which would help replace his lost money.
I found it disturbing that a business person would be opposed to the law and listing his major unhappiness with the law by saying it compromises the privacy of his clients. If I was a client of his I feel I would be much happier knowing that he was not buying and selling items stolen from me or my neighbors.
I urge him to revisit his feelings and remember that people have trust in a businessman to offer them some sort of protection. As sure as I am sitting here writing this letter, the time is coming very soon where his type of business will be facing another push in high prices of silver and gold and when that happens no one will break into his store and sell his property to his competitors, who he says are just outside his city limits where that city doesn't care about protecting its people and him.
I could go on further with the benefits of this ordinance, but I've said enough. In closing, I would just like to say to Mr. Goedken that this law is growing and will not go away so the best thing I could recommend is for him to embrace the law and turn it into a positive with his customers, because it is not going to wreck the coin business. It will improve it when the law flushes out the bad business people and coin collectors and common people will have at least him they can turn to knowing he is honest and helping protect them from the shady.
Raymond Carpenter is a hobbyist from Warwick, R.I.
Viewpoint is a forum for the expression of opinion on a variety of numismatic subjects. The opinions expressed here are not necessarily those of Numismatic News.
To have your opinion considered for Viewpoint, write to David C. Harper, Editor, Numismatic News, 700 E. State St., Iola, WI 54990. Send e-mail to david.harper@fwpubs.com.
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| On October 26, 2007 Kenn Hollister said  On October 26, 2007 Dave Harris said |
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