Lawmakers would show their solidarity with both law enforcement agencies and with constituents plagued by property crime by approving the measure before they adjourn for the year. The pawnshop industry and some civil libertarians contend the measure would be an unconstitutional, discriminatory invasion of pawnshop customers' privacy and would impose an onerous new regulatory burden on pawnbrokers. The advocates make the more persuasive case. Memphis, which has one of the nation's highest burglary rates, has had a pawnshop thumbprint law since 1967. As Shelby County Dist.
Gibbons observes that inner-city neighborhoods are most afflicted by burglaries.
The pawnshop industry has attacked the constitutionality of the Memphis law over the past few years, causing city and county officials to seek statewide legislation. Laws similar to the proposed Tennessee measure are on the books in 14 states. Under the bill, police agencies would need court orders to obtain thumbprint records maintained by pawnshops, and could get them only after property is identified as stolen. Those records would not be defined as information subject to public disclosure. The measure also provides for restitution by defendants to pawnshop owners when police seize stolen property.