[HISTORY: Adopted by the Township Council of the Township of Monroe 8-24-2015 by Ord. No. O:27-2015.[1] Amendments noted where applicable.]
[1]
Editor's Note: This ordinance also repealed former Ch. 237, Dealers in Precious Metals, Gems, and Secondhand Goods, adopted 6-5-2014 by Ord. No. O:11-2014.
A. 
The purpose and intent of this chapter is to assist law enforcement officials and victims of crime in recovering stolen precious metals, gems, gemstones, secondhand goods and/or other articles by requiring minimum reporting, maintenance and distribution criteria for secondhand and transient dealers.
B. 
No person shall use, exercise or carry on the business, trade or occupation of buying scrap gold, old gold, silver, jewelry, home electronics/audio and visual equipment, musical instruments, telephones and telephonic equipment, scales, computers, computer hardware and software, typewriters, word processors, scanners, sporting goods of all kinds, antiques, platinum, all other precious metals, tools of all kinds, televisions, DVRs, GPS, camcorders, car stereos, gift cards, furniture, clothing or other valuable articles, hereinafter referred to as "secondhand goods or articles," or being a secondhand dealer within the Township of Monroe without having first obtained a license from the Township of Monroe.
For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms, phrases, words and their derivations shall have the meanings ascribed herein. Words used in the present tense shall include future, words in the plural number shall include the singular number and words in the singular number shall include the plural number. The word "shall" is always mandatory and not merely directory.
ACCEPTABLE IDENTIFICATION
Acceptable forms of identification include: a current valid New Jersey driver's license or identification card, a current valid photo driver's license issued by another U.S. state, a valid United States passport, or other verifiable U.S. government-issued identification.
ARTICLE
Any article of merchandise, including any portion of such article, whether a distinct part thereof or not, including every part thereof whether separable or not, and also including material for manufacture. And as so defined in N.J.S.A. 51:6-1.
CHIEF OF POLICE
The Chief of Police of the Township of Monroe or his designee/representative.
DATABASE
A computerized internet-capable database with hardware and software compliant to that set established by the Chief of Police and/or his departmental designee.
DEALER
Any person, partnership, corporation, or other entity, whether permanent or itinerant, who on one or more occasions (through any means) buys or sells or otherwise exchanges or trades secondhand gold, silver, precious metals, gems, or jewelry, and includes anyone advertising the purchase or sale of any of the aforementioned items. With the exception of the reporting requests set forth herein, the dealer shall be required to keep all information obtained private and shall not disseminate said personal information for anything other than law enforcement purposes.
DESIGNATED VENDOR
A person or entity that is appointed or designated by the Chief of Police who is authorized to collect and maintain precious metal, gems and secondhand goods transaction information, or other purchase information as defined herein, for the Township of Monroe.
GIFT CARD
Is a restricted monetary equivalent or script that is issued by retailers or banks to be used as an alternative to a nonmonetary gift.
ITINERANT BUSINESS
Any business conducted intermittently within the Township of Monroe or at varying locations.
PERSON
Any individual natural person, partnership, joint venture, business, society, associate, club, trustee, trust, corporation, or unincorporated group, or an officer, agent, employee, servant, factor or any form of personal representative or any thereof, in any capacity, acting for self or no behalf of another.
PRECIOUS METALS
comprised of gold, silver, sterling, platinum and/or their alloys as defined in N.J.S.A. 51:5-1 et seq., N.J.S.A. 51:6-1 et seq. and/or N.J.S.A. 51:6A-1 et seq.; gems, gemstones, coins and all forms of jewelry herein contained.
PUBLIC
Individuals and retail sellers, not to include wholesale transactions or transactions between other merchants.
PURCHASE
The exchange of money and the exchange, deposit, pledge, sale, conveyance or trade of any tangible or intangible article.
REPORTABLE TRANSACTION
Every transaction conducted by a dealer in which precious metals, gems, secondhand goods, or other tangible property, are purchased or exchanged from or with the public.
SECONDHAND GOODS
Any article previously sold, acquired, exchanged, conveyed, traded or otherwise formerly owned, including but not limited to scrap gold, old gold, silver, jewelry, home electronics/audio and visual equipment, telephones and telephonic equipment, scales, computers, computer hardware and software, coins, electronic tablets, cameras, scanners, sporting goods of all kinds, antiques, platinum, all other precious metals, tools of all kinds, televisions, DVRs, GPS, camcorders, car stereos, gift cards, furniture, clothing or other valuable articles.
TRANSIENT BUYER
A dealer who has not been in any retail business continuously for at least six months at any address in the municipality where the dealer is required to register or who intends to close out or discontinue all retail business in the Township of Monroe within six months. Or as so defined in N.J.S.A. 51:6A-5 and N.J.A.C. 13:47C-l.l.
A. 
Initial license application process.
(1) 
Every dealer as defined herein intending on conducting business within the jurisdiction of the Township of Monroe shall first make application to the Chief of Police or his designee and shall set forth the name and address of dealer, his or her age, whether or not he or she is a citizen of the United States and whether or not he or she has been convicted of a crime, the place of conviction and the date thereof.
(2) 
Upon initial application to the Chief of Police or his designee, each dealer shall be provided with an application prescribed by the Monroe Township Police Department and shall provide the following information on said application:
(a) 
Name and address of dealer;
(b) 
Address from which dealer shall conduct business;
(c) 
Copy of valid zoning and/or construction permits from the Township of Monroe;
(d) 
Proof that dealer has obtained computer equipment and software as required by this chapter, for purposes of reporting all transaction data in electronic format to the Monroe Police Department;
(e) 
Certified criminal history of applicant through a private vendor.
B. 
Contingency. Upon completion of the investigation, the Chief of Police shall either approve or deny the license based upon the results of the Monroe Township Police investigation. The license of approval shall be issued by the Township Clerk's office. No license shall be issued without the approval of the Chief of Police or his or her designee.
C. 
There shall not be a license or application fee for the vendors who are licensed as of the date of the enactment of this amended chapter. The Township of Monroe shall be responsible for the initial costs associated with the computerized database and software. Any costs associated with a change in the database and/or upgrades shall be the sole responsibility of all license holder.
A. 
Each application for a dealer of secondhand goods license shall be to the Chief of Police by January 1.
B. 
A license issued under the provisions of this section shall not be transferable and shall terminate on December 31 of the year in which said license is issued.
A. 
Licenses issued under the provisions of this section may be revoked by the Chief of Police after a hearing upon notice to the applicant for any of the following causes:
(1) 
Fraud, misrepresentation, or false statement contained in the application for license;
(2) 
Fraud, misrepresentation, or false statement made in the course of carrying on business of purchasing secondhand precious metals, gems, and jewelry;
(3) 
Any violation of this chapter;
(4) 
Conviction of any crime or disorderly persons offense involving mortal turpitude; and
(5) 
Conducting the business of soliciting or canvassing in an unlawful manner or in such a manner as to constitute a breach of the peace or to constitute menace to the health, safety, or general welfare of the public.
B. 
Notice of the hearing for revocation of a license shall be given in writing, setting forth specifically the grounds of complaint and the time and place of hearing. Such notice shall be mailed, postage prepaid, to the licensee at his last known address at least five days prior to the date set for the hearing.
Every dealer within the Township of Monroe shall, upon the purchase of any precious metals, or secondhand goods from the public, be required to do as follows:
A. 
Record on a numbered receipt the name, address and telephone number of the purchaser; the name, address and telephone number of the seller or sellers; the time and date of the transaction; the net weight in terms of pounds Troy, pennyweight (Troy) or kilograms/grams of the precious metals; fineness in terms of karats for gold, and sterling or coin for silver, in accordance with N.J.S.A. 51:5-1 et seq. and N.J.S.A. 51:6-1 et seq. This information is to be documented through use of an electronic database software system as designated by the Chief of Police. These records shall be subject to the inspection of any authorize police officer of the Township of Monroe.
B. 
Through the use of applicably required computer equipment, and using the electronic format approved by the Chief of Police, enter all transactions into the electronic database within 72 hours from the date of purchase. The information entered will contain the information in Subsection A above, plus the following:
(1) 
A physical description of the seller;
(2) 
The receipt number;
(3) 
A full description of the item or items purchased, including, but not limited to: marks, numbers, dates, sizes, shapes, initials, monograms and serial numbers;
(4) 
The price paid for the item;
(5) 
The form must be signed by the seller;
(6) 
The form must be legibly initialed by the clerk or dealer who made the transaction so as to readily identify that individual;
(7) 
A color photograph or color image of the seller's presented identification;
(8) 
A color photograph or color image of all items sold. When photographing or imaging all items must be positioned in a manner that makes them readily and easily identifiable;
(9) 
Items should not be grouped together when photographing or imaging; each item will have its own color photograph or color image.
C. 
The precious metals are to be made available for inspection by the Chief of Police of the Township of Monroe for a period of 10 days from the date the information required above is received by the Chief of Police on the approved form. The precious metals, gems and secondhand goods shall remain in the same condition as when purchased and shall not be changed, modified, melted or disposed of by the purchase until the ten-day period has expired. During this ten-day period, the precious metals, gems and secondhand goods are not required to be displayed for public display; however, the items shall remain at the purchaser's place of business during this time. If the property is such that it would create a hardship on the dealer by holding the precious metals, gems and secondhand goods for such period, the dealer may present the property to the Chief of Police in order that it may be photographed and, if deemed necessary by the Chief of Police, an investigation may be implemented. The Chief of Police has the authority to grant the dealer a waiver of the requirement under this section.
D. 
In the event of a database failure, or dealer's computer equipment malfunctions, all transaction information is required to be submitted on paper forms approved by the Chief of Police. In the event that paper forms are used, the dealer is responsible to enter all transaction information into the database as soon as possible upon the dealer's equipment being repaired or replaced, or the database coming back into service. Failure by the dealer to properly maintain computer equipment in a reasonable fashion, or failure by the dealer to replace faulty computer equipment, may result in the dealer being cited for a violation of the chapter and subsequently being subject to the penalties for doing so.
E. 
Dealer payment to sellers shall be by bank check drawn from dealer's business account for purchases of $200 or more. The dealer is limited to one purchase under $200 for the same individual or entity within a seven-day period. If in the event a dealer has more than one purchase from the same individual or entity within the seven-day period, the seller of the items shall be paid by check as set forth herein.
F. 
It shall be the requisite duty of every dealer, and of every person in the dealer's employ, upon reasonable notice to the dealer as defined in N.J.S.A. 51:6A-l (h) to admit to the premises during business hours any member of the Monroe Township Police Department to examine any database, book, ledger, or any other record on the premises relating to the purchase of precious metals from the public, as well as the articles purchased or received, and to take possession of any article known by the police officer or official to be missing or to have been stolen, or where the officer or official has probable cause to believe the article is missing or stolen. At the conclusion of any criminal investigation and upon proper notice, the Monroe Township Police Department shall return said items if they are not to be utilized as evidence in any criminal proceeding.
This chapter shall not apply to purchases made by jewelers or other dealers from wholesalers or other suppliers, but shall only apply to those purchases made from the public or other retail purchases. The dealer shall keep records of all wholesale purchases for a period of six months from the date of such purchase, which records shall be opened to investigation by the Monroe Township Police Department.
No dealer within the Township of Monroe shall purchase any precious metals from any person under the age of 18 years.
Violation of any provision of this chapter shall, upon conviction thereof, be punished by a minimum fine of $100 or a maximum of $2,000 or by imprisonment for a term not exceeding 90 days or by a period of community service not exceeding 90 days. Each and every violation shall be considered a separate violation. Every day that a violation continues shall be a separate violation. Each violation shall result in an additional ten-day suspension. Any person who is convicted of violating the provisions of this chapter within one year of the date of a previous violation and who was fined for the previous violation may be sentenced by the court to an additional fine as a repeat offender. The additional fine imposed as a repeat offender shall not be less than the minimum or exceed the maximum fine provided herein, and same shall be calculated separately from the fine imposed for the violation of this chapter. A dealer who is found guilty of the provisions of this chapter for more than three violations may be subject to the inability to apply for a license for a period of five years.