Santa Ana Municipal Code Ch. 25 Pawnbrokers and Secondhand Dealers

For the purposes of this chapter, every person as defined in Section 21000 of the Financial Code of this state shall be deemed a pawnbroker, and every person as defined in Section 21626 of the Business and Professions Code of this state shall be deemed a secondhand dealer.

(Code 1952, § 6391.5; Ord. No. NS-389, § 1, 8-17-59; Ord. No. NS-1305, § 1, 6-7-76)

Every person buying, lending money upon or otherwise accepting in pawn, trading, bartering, auctioning, taking on consignment, or otherwise dealing, as a business in any secondhand or used items of personal property within the city, shall keep a true, complete and accurate record of each article so dealt with, which records shall contain the date and hour of the day when said transaction was entered into, a description of the person from whom said article was purchased or received in pawn, the true name and address of said person so dealt with, as nearly as the same can be ascertained, printed by the dealer and written in said person's own handwriting, the number and state of issuance of the driver's license held by such person, or, if none, such other items of identification as may be available, the age, sex, weight, height, race, hair and eye color of such person; the name, manufacturer's name, color, size, shape, material, caliber, barrel length, serial number, description of automation, engraving, initials, identifying marks, damage marks, amount, or as many of said items of information as can be ascertained and are applicable to the particular article so dealt with; the pawn ticket number, amount loaned, paid or received for said article, and the name of the dealer. Said records shall at all times during regular business hours be open to inspection by any police officer of the city. Any person buying, accepting in pawn, auctioning, or otherwise lending money upon any secondhand article, or any new article, except at wholesale or retail through regular trade channels, who takes part in ten (10) or more such transactions during any calendar year, shall be deemed, to be dealing in such articles as a business and shall comply with the requirements of this chapter as they relate to such transactions.

(Code 1952, § 6391; Ord. No. NS-308, § 1, 2-17-58; Ord. No. NS-1305, § 2, 6-7-76)

State Law reference— For similar provisions, see §§ 21652, 21653, 21639, Bus. and P. Code.

(a) Every person buying, accepting in pawn, auctioning, taking on consignment, or otherwise dealing with articles as set forth in section 25-2, who is by said section required to keep a record of each such transaction, shall furnish and deliver to the police department of this city, on a blank form to be furnished by said department, a true and complete report of all of the information, and each of the items required to be completed and taken from and about the person with whom such dealing or transaction was had, and from and about the article bought, sold, taken in pawn, auction, or otherwise dealt with. Said report shall be delivered to the police department on the day following the day in which the transaction took place.

(b) Every business machine dealer shall report all used business machines which he has purchased, taken in trade, accepted for sale or consignment, or which he has repaired to the police department of this city, on a blank form to be furnished by said department, the information required to be recorded pursuant to section 25-2 of this Code.

No report of repair shall be required from a dealer servicing or repairing a machine in the possession of the owner to whom that dealer sold that machine when it was new.

(c) As used in this section, the term "business machines" includes, but is not limited to, typewriters, adding machines, check writing devices, cash registers, calculators, addressing machines, copying and accounting equipment, letter sorting and folding devices, and recording equipment, but does not include office furniture or fixtures.

(Code 1952, § 6391.1; Ord. No. NS-308, § 1, 2-17-58; Ord. No. NS-1305, § 3, 6-7-76)

The chief of police shall cause blanks to be printed in such form as he may direct, which form may be changed from time to time when the supply on hand indicates that a new printing is necessary, and he shall deliver free of charge a supply of said blanks to all persons holding a city business license as pawnbroker, known dealers in secondhand goods and merchandise, and to any other person known by him to be required by section 25-2 to keep the record therein provided for. Additional supplies of said blanks shall be furnished upon request of any such person.

The chief of police shall require that the reports furnished as required by section 25-3 are examined by some member or members of the police department and filed in a secure place in the department. Such blanks shall be open to inspection only to the police department or, in their discretion, to police officers of other departments where the same may be necessary in regular police work, unless upon order from a court duly made for the purpose of ordering disclosure of information from said file.

(Code 1952, § 6391.3; Ord. No. NS-308, § 1, 2-17-58)

Editor's note— Ord. No. NS-1305, § 4, adopted June 7, 1976, repealed § 25-5, setting forth certain prerequisites to the issuance of a pawnbroker's on secondhand dealer's license and causes for license revocation. Said section was derived from Code 1952, § 6391.2, and Ord. No. NS-308, § 1, adopted Feb. 17, 1958.

Every person desiring to engage in the business of a secondhand dealer or pawnbroker shall first make written application to the chief of police of this city, stating his name, age, residence address, proposed business address, the business addresses of all other businesses in which he has an interest, a statement of the time, place and circumstances of every time he has been convicted of a crime, a statement of the number of employees he will have in such place of business, the names and addresses of such employees then known to applicant, and shall submit himself and each of said employees for the purpose of having photographs and fingerprints taken.

(Code 1952, § 6391.6; Ord. No. NS-389, § 1, 8-17-59; Ord. No. NS-1305, § 5, 6-7-76)

If the chief of police finds that the applicant under section 25-6 has knowingly made a material misstatement in the application for a certificate or if said chief of police finds that the applicant under section 25-6 or any proposed employee of a secondhand dealer or pawnbroker has been convicted of a violation of any statute of this state or any ordinance of this city, regulating pawnbrokers or secondhand dealers, or has been convicted of any crimes involving theft, receiving stolen property, embezzlement, fraud, false pretenses, or moral turpitude, when such conviction bears a reasonable connection to the business for which the certificate is sought, he shall refuse to issue said certificate. Any certificate issued hereunder may be revoked for failure to maintain the standards required for issuance for same. No person shall carry on the business of a secondhand dealer or pawnbroker within the city without first receiving the certificate herein referred to, from the chief of police, and a clearance as to himself and as to each of his employees as herein provided for or after the certificate herein referred to has been revoked; and no person shall employ any person in such business who would be disqualified hereunder from obtaining a certificate to operate such business as herein provided for, or until such employee has been submitted to the chief of police for checking as provided for in section 25-6.

(Code 1952, § 6391.7; Ord. No. NS-389, § 1, 8-17-59; Ord. No. NS-1305, § 6, 6-7-76)

Any person who is refused a certificate or whose certificate is revoked as provided for herein, may appeal the entire question to the city council pursuant to the provisions of Chapter 3 of this Code.

(Code 1952, § 6391.8; Ord. No. NS-389, § 1, 8-17-59; Ord. No. NS-1235, § 12, 12-9-74)

Every pawnbroker or secondhand dealer who receives any article by purchase, trade, barter or gift shall hold the same for police inspection for a period of not less than twenty-one (21) days after he has reported receiving said article to the police department, as required by section 25-3, and shall not sell, lend or otherwise transfer possession of said article to any person during said period.

Every article purchased, received in pawn, or otherwise acquired in any transaction which is required by section 25-3 to be reported to the police department, shall be kept in a place convenient for inspection and detailed examination by any member of the police department, or any person accompanied by a police officer of the city for the purpose of identifying said article, getting further information regarding the identity of said article, determining whether or not the reports required by section 25-3 have been accurately and completely made, to ascertain whether there has been a violation of said section, or for any other police purpose.

The police department may place a hold on any article dealt with as herein defined by notifying the pawnbroker or secondhand dealer that the same shall be held until released by the police department or until the expiration of ninety (90) days from the date of placing such order to hold. This may be done whenever such item is necessary for evidence in court, to determine ownership, to allow the true owner a reasonable time to redeem or recover such article in cases where the same has been stolen, or for any other proper police purpose. Such order to hold an item may be renewed in a like manner, for a like period, and no secondhand dealer or pawnbroker shall sell any article which is the subject to such an order from the police department that the same be held until the order has been released by the police department, for the time set forth in such order to hold, or the ninety (90) day period mentioned herein has expired without a renewal of such order.

(Code 1952, § 6391.4; Ord. No. NS-308, § 1, 2-17-58)

No secondhand dealer or pawnbroker, and no person employed by same, shall buy, trade, take in pawn, accept for sale on consignment, or accept for auctioning secondhand personal property, nor make any loan on any item of personal property except between the hours of 7:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. of any day.

(Code 1952, § 6391.4; Ord. No. NS-308, § 1, 2-17-58; Ord. No. NS-1305, § 7, 6-7-76)

The provisions of this chapter shall not apply to any identifiable secondhand tangible personal property which is exempt from state regulation of this subject, as found in Section 21629 of the Business and Professions Code of this state.

(Ord. No. NS-1305, § 8, 6-7-76)

Every person defined as a pawnbroker or secondhand dealer under section 25-1 shall be considered a retailer for taxation purposes as set forth in Chapter 35 of this Code.

(Ord. No. NS-1305, § 9, 6-7-76)