Council committee advances ordinance to require electronic reporting for secondhand goods; business groups warn of scope

The Public Health & Safety Committee voted to forward a proposed amendment to Chapter 41 of the Detroit City Code — requiring secondhand goods dealers, pawnbrokers, scrap‑metal dealers and similar sellers to submit transaction records electronically to a police‑designated platform — to new business with a recommendation to approve.

Justin Anuwene, director of entrepreneurship for the City of Detroit, outlined the ordinance's purpose: "This secondhand goods electronic reporting ordinance seeks to make it easier for DPD to understand where stolen goods ... are coming from, where they're being sold out of, so that we can reduce the amount of junk and scrap metal, water heater, auto, and other types of theft," he said. Anuwene described a transition period so businesses unfamiliar with the technology can onboard.

Lieutenant Nathan Miller of the Detroit Police Department's auto‑theft unit said the move would modernize a statutory requirement that is currently recorded in paper 'books' and make it feasible for police to target follow‑up on dealers who fail to report. "With this new platform ... it makes it easier on the department to see what transactions have been reported by what dealers and to ensure that we can then target the personnel to follow up at good dealers that are not in compliance," Miller said.

During the public hearing, several callers and business representatives urged narrowing the ordinance. Carolyn Hughes said the proposal felt "too sweeping" and would increase enforcement work for BCID and DPD; others suggested the objective should be limited to auto‑theft and high‑value stolen goods. Callers also urged support and outreach to smaller businesses to avoid creating an undue compliance burden.

Members pressed administration staff about whether the city could tie the proposed platform into statewide databases. The administration said several cities already use LeadsOnline and that the city has no statewide system to plug into; they said the ordinance anticipates using a platform familiar to enforcement and providing a transition window for businesses.

After Q&A, the vice chair moved to forward the ordinance to new business with a recommendation to approve; the chair called for objections and — hearing none — the ordinance was forwarded.

Next steps: the ordinance will appear at formal session as new business with the committee's recommendation to approve; administration and DPD will continue outreach to affected businesses and provide implementation details to council offices.