New online tool fights jewlry theft

The cases had gone cold.
Pieces of jewelry stolen in break-ins, robberies and other thefts sat at pawn shops unbeknownst to authorities with little chance of being returned to their rightful owners.
But, according to Rhode Island Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch, a new Internet-based monitoring system is giving authorities another tool in the fight to restore the property – one that has had tremendous success.
The new system, named the Precious Metals and Pawn Database, with links to Rhode Island police departments and nearby Massachusetts municipalities, has helped law enforcement officials solve more than
25 cases of breaking and entering thefts, embezzlement and larceny, since going online in July.
All of these cases, Lynch said, likely would have gone unsolved without the aid of the new database.
“It speeds up the investigative process immeasurably, and it’s just had remarkable results,” Lynch said.
According to information provided by Lynch’s office, all pawn shops and other dealers of precious metals are required by law to file a form with the attorney general when an item is purchased or pawned.
That form includes comprehensive information on the seller of the item, as well as “a complete and accurate description of the precious metals.”
Once the information is entered into the database, detectives can surf the site, searching for items by description, date of transaction or by the names of sellers.
That function, Lynch said, is valuable if police already have a suspect for the crime.
The new system is a vast change from the old way of tracking the crimes, Lynch said.
GEMS, the previous database, was described as “cumbersome and difficult to use” in a release from the attorney general’s office.
Under the old system, when jewelry was reported stolen, police would document the theft on a pink slip and place it on file.
With little communication between police departments and a slip “gathering dust,” Lynch said it was virtually impossible to retrieve stolen items that end up in places as close as a pawn shop in the next town.
“It didn’t help victims, it didn’t help the process move quicker and it didn’t help us solve cases,” Lynch said.
Another impediment to the process under GEMS, Lynch said, was the way in which the missing items were recorded by police departments. When the police took information about the missing property, oftentimes the descriptions would be vague, with the officer writing “gold ring” or “Rolex.”
The program, initially funded by the Rhode Island General Assembly, recently received a windfall when the attorney general’s office was awarded a $53,000 grant from the Rhode Island Police Chiefs Association.
The money, received through the Rhode Island Justice Commission, enabled Lynch’s office to hire two full-time contract workers for the initiative and to purchase a computer.
According to the attorney general’s office, 3,934 forms were entered into the database. With the extra personnel, Lynch’s office reported a 50-percent spike in the forms entered from Oct. 31 to mid-December, with 5,788 forms entered during that period.
Since police began accessing the system in early July, individuals have been charged by the Bristol, North Providence, Pawtucket, Warwick, West Warwick, Cumberland and Glocester police departments, as well as the Rhode Island State Police, according to Lynch’s office.
Charges have also been brought by the Attleboro and Plainville departments in Massachusetts.
Lynch said he has been working with Massachusetts legislators to advance the program in their state.