Pawn shop reporting requirements, state by state
There is no federal rule on what a pawn shop reports to the police. Each state, county or city sets its own, and most of them name a system to report through. This page quotes the law for five jurisdictions and says who runs each system. It is not legal advice: your licence and your local ordinance are the authority, and your police department will tell you which system it uses.
Do pawn shops report to police?
In the places below, yes: every pawn and purchase is recorded and the record goes to law enforcement, daily in most of them. What differs is the system, the deadline and who pays for it.
| Where | What the law requires | System |
|---|---|---|
| California | Licensed secondhand dealers and pawnbrokers report tangible personal property transactions to one statewide electronic system, created by Assembly Bill 391 (2012) | CAPSS, run by the state Department of Justice |
| Florida | The previous business day’s transaction forms are delivered to the appropriate law enforcement official by the end of each business day; electronic transfer is allowed where the agency supplies the software (section 539.001(9)) | Set by the local agency |
| Utah | Transaction information is transmitted electronically to the central database within 24 hours of the transaction (section 13-32a-106) | The state’s central database |
| Washington | On request, a transcript of the preceding day’s transactions goes to the chief of police or the county’s chief law enforcement officer, on paper or electronically as that officer approves (RCW 19.60.040) | Set by the city or county |
| New York City | Pawnbrokers create an electronic record at the time of every pawn, pledge or redemption, in a manner the police commissioner specifies by rule, and keep it six years (Local Law 149 of 2013) | Specified by the police commissioner |
A state that is not in the table is not a state without a rule. Many leave reporting to the county or city, so two shops an hour apart can report to different systems on different deadlines.
Reporting and holding are separate rules
The report is one duty; how long you hold goods before selling them is another. Florida is a plain example: the same section that sets the daily report also says goods bought outright may not be sold or disposed of until 30 calendar days after the purchase. Check both when you read your own state’s law.
The reporting systems
- LeadsOnline. A private service that police departments subscribe to. LeadsOnline’s guide for businesses says reporting costs a shop nothing: “Services provided to businesses by LeadsOnline are free of charge”, and law enforcement pays an annual subscription. The same guide says requirements vary by state and jurisdiction, and that police prefer an upload at least once a day.
- CAPSS. California’s own system, which the Department of Justice describes as the single, statewide repository for the information that used to go on its paper JUS 123 form.
- A state database. Utah runs a central database that every pawn and secondhand business transmits to.
- Whatever the local agency names. In Florida and Washington the law sets the duty and the local agency chooses how it receives the records.
Your POS almost certainly writes the file already. See the export guides for LeadsOnline and CAPSS.
What goes in the report
The item and the transaction: New York City’s law, for one, lists the date, time and location, and an accurate description of each article including type, manufacturer, make, model or serial number and any inscriptions or distinguishing marks. What a report does not usually carry is what the item later sold for. That is why a police report on its own tells you what you took in, and not what you made.
Where PawnCounter fits
PawnCounter does not file your police report and never sends anything to a reporting system. It reads a copy of the file you already produce for the police, as the record of what you took in and what you paid, and sets it beside a sales or inventory export to show margin, aged stock and markdowns by category and buyer.
Our stake is plain: PawnCounter is what we sell. The free Profit X-Ray shows what it finds in your files before you pay anything.
Sources
- California Department of Justice, California Pawn & SecondHand Dealer System (CAPSS)
- Florida Statutes 2025, section 539.001 (Florida Pawnbroking Act)
- Utah Code 13-32a-106, Transaction information provided to the central database (effective May 4, 2022)
- Revised Code of Washington 19.60.040, Report to chief law enforcement officer
- New York City Local Law 149 of 2013 (Administrative Code sections 20-267, 20-273 and 20-277)
- LeadsOnline, "QuickStart for Businesses" (as published by the South Carolina Department of Consumer Affairs)
See these numbers for your own shop.
Upload a sales or inventory export from the POS you already run. The Profit X-Ray is free, needs no card, and is ready in minutes.