Private Investigation Techniques - Canvassing the Pawnshops

Whenever your car or home has been burglarized and your personal property was taken, chances are the crime was committed with the purpose of making money on the part of the crook.  Just like many offenses, most crimes are all about drugs and/or money.

It is possible that the burglar may have pawned your personal items at a local pawnshop.

Many local law enforcement agencies maintain some sort of relationship with a pawnshop.  Pawnshop clerks are required to maintain a list of tickets on every item they buy or accept on pawn.  On a weekly basis, local police departments receive this list containing a description of the items, including the serial numbers, if possible.  In the digital age, police departments that are wired to the internet can now accept this list of tickets electronically.  Those departments that are not hooked up will still require submissions on paper.

It is required by law that pawnshops must keep a list of tickets on items that their customers pawn.  Police will make regular, unannounced visits to each pawnshop and check its inventory against the list of pawn tickets the pawnshop has submitted.

Similarly, a detective or policeman in charge of pawnshop detail will compare the list of pawn tickets against lists of stolen property already entered in the National Crime Information Center, a central database used to track crime-related information.If a stolen item is discovered at a pawnshop, the officer has the authority to confiscate the item from the pawnshop.

If your, or your client’s, property is stolen, be sure that a detailed and accurate description of the items taken from you is given to the local police.  If it is an item that found its way on the shelves of a pawnshop, ask that the description be given to the pawnshop detail unit of the local police department since this does not necessarily occur automatically.Sometimes, it is up to the private investigator to cross reference stolen items against the information provided by the pawnshop clerks.  If you prefer, there is nothing wrong with contacting police officers involved in pawnshop detail directly.