Local businesses object to proposed ordinance

Local businesses object to proposed ordinance

“Know the first amendment, speak your mind, read banned books” reads a large poster in the bookstore, A Room of One’s Own. Store owner Sandi Torkildson, does not have the quote on the wall to fill space, she has it to remind herself – and her customers – what she stands for.

However, Torkildson is one of several local storeowners challenging a proposed city ordinance, one that Torkildson believes challenges the message on the poster, and her values.

The proposal governs the sale of goods to secondhand stores, and would require sellers to provide personal information, legal identification and a detailed description of the item, to the store buying their items. Once this information is obtained, the store would be legally obligated to enter it into a police database.

Not all items are subject to the ordinance, which primarily covers electronic goods like DVDs, CDs, TV’s, cameras and iPods.

“What I have a problem with is that everyone’s records would be in this database, and who knows what police will do with it,” Torkildson said. “It’s chilling, the effect it could have on people. It is completely violating privacy rights and freedom of expression within the first amendment.”

Under existing law, the City requires minimal information from the sellers. Storeowners are obliged to keep seller details in a paper database for a year, and officials rarely check over the information.

Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, thinks the existing paper-based system “is a joke,” and hopes that the implementation of the electronic system will allow things to run more smoothly.

At the heart of it, the proposal intends to catch thieves who may be poaching items and selling them for cash. With an electronic database recording transactions, catching these people would be more feasible.

“There is an epidemic of heroin and opium addictions driving much of the activity at these businesses. A large portion of many of these electronic items are clearly stolen,” Verveer said.

Although paper books would be excluded from the electronic database, Torkildson is still concerned. She understands the intentions behind the proposal, but argues that the database infringes on peoples’ privacy.

“I have a right to privacy; the Government doesn’t have the right to know what I do or to stop me from doing it. Police need to have a reason to get information, they can’t just do it freely,” Torkildson said.

Aside from changes with identification, the proposed law also prohibit clients that are impaired, intoxicated, or under the age of 18 from selling items. If the item the client is selling doesn’t have a serial number on it (or if the serial number has been tampered with) the storeowner cannot legally purchase it.

With so many modifications, some storeowners are starting to worry about the stability of their business.

 Capt. Jim Wheeler, head of the police department’s investigative unit, hopes the ordinance will serve as a deterrent.

“People need to know that if they’re going to take stolen goods someplace, the serial numbers are going into a database and this is going to be matched up with things that are reported stolen,” Wheeler said.

According to Wheeler, the police department has already tested the databases at two stores. The trial revealed names of three “heroin addicts” with criminal records who sold selling numerous game controllers within a month.

"This shows what we would be able to get from the system," Wheeler said.

But Torkildson stands firm on her beliefs, and refuses to comply with the proposal as it stands currently .

“I have to protect my customers’ rights,” she said. “They expect it of me.” Torkildson added that she would never hand over personal information of customers to the police without an appropriate warrant.

“You have to protect against dangerous popular ideals. People sell stuff for different reasons, but [they] don’t give up their rights just because they decided to sell,” Torkildson said. “ I would go to jail before I would go against my own principles.”

With so much controversy and conflicting opinions over the ordinance, the proposal has been extended until the Common Council meeting on October 18.

In the meantime, Verveer has arranged a meeting between the Madison Police Department and concerned storeowners, with hopes of reaching a compromise. The meeting will be held at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday Oct. 5, in the City-County Building, Room GR-22. The public is invited to attend.