Theft of precious metals have been on the rise over the last few years as the price of silver, gold, platinum, aluminum and other metals has increased. Delegate Jeannie Haddaway-Riccio and other members of the House Economic Matters Committee were briefed today by the Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation (DLLR) on potential regulations for pawnbrokers that might help with the issue.

The Department also reported on the extremely low recovery rates of certain types of stolen property that is due in part to the lack of record keeping by pawnbrokers. “I don’t want us to over regulate second hand property dealers, but we have to give law enforcement officials the tools they need to investigate and solve these crimes,” Haddaway said. “The legislation we passed last year was a good start, but we have a lot more to do if we are going to curb this rise in thefts.”

For more information on this and other issues, please feel free to contact Delegate Jeannie Haddaway-Riccio’s office by calling (410) 841-3429 or by emailing jeannie.haddaway@house.state.md.us.