MANCHESTER — Alderman Phil Greazzo on Tuesday plans to propose modifications of the new pawnshop ordinance at the Administration Committee.

As committee chairman, Greazzo, who voted against the ordinance when it was passed June 5, objects to the length of time objects must be held — 30 days — as well as that photos of sellers and their personal information are under the control of a for-profit organization.

The new ordinance, which took effect Aug. 1, covers about 50 businesses. It requires pawnshops to upload a digital photo of the item and the seller, along with identifying information, to LeadsOnline, an online system used by more than 2,000 police departments across the country.

Each transaction costs the owner $1 and the item must be held for 30 days before being sold. “It seems to be a little too long,” said Greazzo, adding that the cost adds up fast for high volume store owners. Greazzo says it also puts Manchester shop owners at a disadvantage because dealers elsewhere aren’t affected.

Under the old system, pawnshop and secondhand store owners had three days to give a paper pawn slip to police. A week after the item was pawned, it could be sold.

Manchester police Sgt. John Patti, a detective who oversees the system, has a secretary enter each written pawn slip into the computer system. In 2010, that was 25,000 slips for 63,000 items.

In the new system, the digital information goes directly into the LeadsOnline system, immediately accessible to participating police departments.

Patti said the new system has led to the solution of more than 20 burglaries in the two months it has been in effect and much of the stolen property has been returned to the owners.

Greazzo insists the 30 days items must now be held — four times longer than before — is too long. “Two weeks seems like a reasonable time,” he said.

Patti counters that the 30-day hold is reasonable, because sometimes people don’t realize immediately that there has been a burglary or theft, or are away on vacation or business, or have difficulty obtaining serial numbers for stolen items.

He said the 30-day hold isn’t absolute. “The ordinance has a way to balance the concerns,” said Patti. A section of the ordinance says the chief or another police department administrator can authorize the release of property sooner than 30 days.

Patti said the department is trying to work with pawnshop owners for whom the 30-day hold poses storage problems. He said he and Deputy Chief Gary Simmons met Tuesday with Joe Lacerda, the owner of Manchester Music Mill, which sells new and used instruments on Elm Street.

Lacerda said last month that he had had to rent a $1,100-a-month space in order to comply with the 30-day hold. Patti said he appreciates Lacerda’s problem. “The stuff he deals with is big and bulky,” said Patti. Simmons and I met with him (today) to discuss some options.”

Greazzo is also concerned about having a private, for-profit company having the photos and personal information of the sellers, saying he wouldn’t object if it were a government-operated system, like that for fingerprints, and if every community were part of the system.

“It’s a worthy endeavor, but everybody has to be part of it,” said Greazzo.

Patti is on the same page regarding universal participation. “We would love for this to be everywhere,” he said, adding he hopes other law enforcement agencies will see the benefit and sign on.

Patti said Leadsonline may be a private company, but their system is secure and only law enforcement can access the information.

Patti said all the issues that concern Greazzo were discussed during the aldermanic committee’s work on the ordinance and said a department representative will attend the committee meeting for additional discussions.

The City Clerk’s office said the time for the committee meeting will be posted by Friday on the online city calendar.

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Dale Vincent may be reached at dvincent@unionleader.com.