Your grandmother's diamond ring could be stolen from your house this morning, sold to a

legitimate business this afternoon and melted by this evening, destroying any possibility of

recovering it.

"When you're talking about a family heirloom, that's a devastating thing to happen," said

James Anastasi, the owner of Hertel Jewelers.

Police have known that for years. That's why Buffalo has a law designed to prevent it from

happening, why Hamburg is considering a similar law, and why some police want a law throughout

Erie County that regulates pawnshops, jewelers and other secondhand dealers.

"It would have to be a no-brainer," said Senior Detective Alan Rozansky of the Erie County

Sheriff's Office. "Every police department and family that has been burglarized would

benefit."

Buffalo's law requires pawnshops and those that deal in secondhand goods to obtain a photo

identification of the seller, report daily to police on the items received the previous day

and to hold the goods for 21 days before selling them.

But those regulations and a proposal in the Town of Hamburg to require the thumbprint of

sellers are too restrictive for businesses, some say.

"You can't be fingerprinting people," said Betty Newell, president of the Hamburg Chamber

of Commerce. "There are so many mandates. They're trying to ask them to do all these other

pieces. Some of these businesses don't have enough staff to do all this work they're asking

them."

Jason Brown opened Fast Cash, where he buys and sells secondhand goods, on Lake Street in

the Village of Hamburg three months ago. The village has no law, but Brown said he cooperates

with village, town and other police agencies. He said fingerprinting customers is fine with

him, but since he just started the business, he does not have the money to hold items 15 or 20

days.

"I need the quick turnaround," said Brown, who sells many items on the Internet.

Some businesses routinely fingerprint customers who come in to sell jewelry. Anastasi, who

bought Behringer's Jewelers in December, said he plans to continue the practice as soon as he

gets his license in Buffalo allowing him to buy jewelry. His main business is jewelry repair

and custom design, but he has an ink pad on the counter, ready to go.

Anastasi, who has been in the field for 23 years, said waiting 21 days before selling an

item sometimes is difficult, but it has been a way of life for years for Buffalo businesses.

"It does make things a little tough because you do tie up money. It also makes it very

safe," he said. "I think the playing field should be level for everybody."

Buffalo police get good cooperation from business owners, Chief of Detectives Dennis J.

Richards said.

"At the end of the day, there are certain legitimate businesses who abide by the law, and

unfortunately there are those who try to skirt the law. That's why we do check on a regular

basis," he said.

Police said many burglaries are committed by drug addicts looking for goods to sell to get

money for their next fix. And if they steal it in one town, chances are they'll take it to

another town to sell it at a pawnshop or other secondhand store.

That leaves detectives checking on jewelers and shops throughout the county. Sometimes they

get cooperation from owners, but sometimes they don't.

"I should be able to go into any pawnshop and ask for a business ledger and see what was

brought in," Town of Tonawanda Detective Tim Connolly said. "Right now there's nothing. They

may not keep records."

Connolly has looked into ordinances in other communities, and Hamburg is revising a

proposed law after businesses objected to a 15-day waiting period.

Erie County Legislator Lynn Marinelli is pushing to have a single law cover Erie County.

She said the vast majority of businesses are legitimate, legal businesses, but a county law

would give law enforcement another tool to combat crime.

"It's a good consumer protection piece that has shown its value for the length of time it's

been place in Buffalo," she said.

She said she has asked the Legislature counsel to look at drafting a law with Undersheriff

Brian Doyle, who also is a deputy town attorney in Hamburg and helped craft the town's

proposed law.

Brown, at Fast Cash in Hamburg, has a list of stolen goods from several police departments,

including one in Cattaraugus County. He said he does not want to buy anything that has been

stolen.

"I'd rather recover something for somebody than make 20 bucks selling it," he said.

"We just want it not to be brought in one day and gone the next," said Rozansky of the

Sheriff's Office.

Businesses that don't check for identification or provide a list to police are making it

easy for criminals, police say.

"They're kind of enticing the heroin and crack addicts to come in," Rozansky said.

Tonawanda's Connolly believes there is a direct correlation between the ease with which

people can unload stolen property and the number of burglaries that occur.

"People aren't going to steal things if they can't sell them," he said.