Fishers ordinance would help police trace stolen property - 13 WTHR Indianapolis

In Fishers home break-ins, what burglars make off with changes with the times. Scott Fadness, Fishers Town Manager says precious metals are the "flavor of the day." Plus electronics and cash.

When we rode with special Fishers police patrols this summer, we saw officers determined to stem the increase in daylight home burglaries. Some key arrests followed.

Now the town is coming at it from a new angle: trying to trace and recover stolen goods and maybe track them to the thieves.

"If we're having break-ins in our community we don't want them going to a pawn shop in Carmel or a pawn shop in Noblesville," says Fadness.

So Fishers is proposing a countywide, regionwide or even statewide law to enforce recordkeeping at secondhand stores like pawn shops and gold buyers.

A seller might have to give a thumbprint at the store. The item for sale would be photographed, the photo placed on a national database to help police spot stolen goods. Serial numbers would help too.

"I think something like that could really help in a lot of respects," says a Fishers shopper.

"I think it's important to protect people," said a store owner.

But Gold and Coin of Fishers owner Scott Templin is not for the town's plan.

Asked if he could detect if someone who comes in with coins are not bringing in stolen goods, Templin said no. "There's no way to know that, but 99 percent of our customers are in their 40's and 50's, and they are collecting these coins." He says he can easily spot people with no idea what they're selling.

Used sporting goods stores were dropped from the plan. Some of those do carry things like golf clubs valued at hundreds of dollars.

And at an eBay store, the manager told he she should be exempt. "If they trade with us, they have to wait four to five weeks to get paid, so if they've stolen, they don't want to wait over a month to get paid."