Chief919
Well-known member
The single most important thing anyone can do is make a good record of every serial number on anything you have with a serial number. Everything, right down to the batteries on your cordless devices as many have serial numbers now.
If the serial number isn't recorded, the odds of you ever recovering your stolen items is pretty much zero. If the thief gets caught with it the odds of making charges stick is very low. If it is recorded and in the report the odds increase greatly.
Policies vary from state to state, but there are several ways this helps.
If you file a police report without serial numbers they just list the items. Then if the item turns up later in a pawn shop, in a bust of someone stealing, as inventory on a seized vehicle or anything else and they run the serial number if you didn't have it top list then no match is found.
If you have the serial number and your local police department is doing its job properly every serial number will be uploaded into the FBI's National crime Information Center or NCIC. It is the same database that stolen vehicles and stolen firearms are listed in. It does not matter what the item is- radio, drill, lawn mower as long as it has a serial # they can list it stolen in NCIC.
It varies by state, but many states require everything taken in at a pawn shop be checked against NCIC. If your state doesn't and you spot your item in a pawn shop if you have the serial # on the police it is a quick and easy call to the PD where the pawn shop is and your items are returned. if you don't have the serial # then the odds of proving that item is your are slim to none and even if you see it on the counter you probably won't get it back.
Criminals typically keep a life of crime going, and will get busted. When they do many PD's will run everything they find in their possession against NCIC to see if anything comes back stolen to both try and get property back and add charges to the list for whoever they just busted. If an item comes back stolen from you it will get returned.
Just last week a friend of mine who is a deputy here in NC pulled over a truck with an enclosed trailer an GA plates that was acting oddly and local residents had called it in as suspicious. The trailer was full of lawn equipment, and 3 of the pieces came back stolen out of FL. They had been taken when a trailer was stolen from a lawn service almost a year ago, and because the owner had the serial numbers and they were listed the property was recovered and was worth enough that they drove up to get it. I think he said it was a backpack leaf blower, zero turn mower and something else. There was a lot more in there they suspect was probably also stolen but if it didn't come back listed in NCIC they couldn't do anything with it.
They have busted people with some stuff as small as a cheap $30 corded drill because the owner knew the serial number. it may not have been a big item for them to get back but at least in that case it helped bust a thief.
The simplest and easiest way to record serial numbers is get an inexpensive digital camera dedicated to just that. Under $30 on Amazon these days, you simply take a pictures of every item and then a closeup of the serial #. Make a backup copy of the memory card, and when you make a backup of it save all the pics as a .zip file then email the .zip file to yourself. And with a picture of the serial # there is no question of you having the right # so the pawn shop can't claim they have had the item forever and you saw it there and listed it on the report.
There is limited citizen access to NCIC. On https://www.tracechecker.com/index you can enter a serial # and it will tell if if anything with that # is reported stolen. But only LE can see what the item description if so you can run a number for a drill and it may match a gun, that website will only tell you as a private citizen that something with the same # was reported stolen. But a clean run tells you nothing with that # is reported stolen, so that is a green light in thsoe cases at least.
If the serial number isn't recorded, the odds of you ever recovering your stolen items is pretty much zero. If the thief gets caught with it the odds of making charges stick is very low. If it is recorded and in the report the odds increase greatly.
Policies vary from state to state, but there are several ways this helps.
If you file a police report without serial numbers they just list the items. Then if the item turns up later in a pawn shop, in a bust of someone stealing, as inventory on a seized vehicle or anything else and they run the serial number if you didn't have it top list then no match is found.
If you have the serial number and your local police department is doing its job properly every serial number will be uploaded into the FBI's National crime Information Center or NCIC. It is the same database that stolen vehicles and stolen firearms are listed in. It does not matter what the item is- radio, drill, lawn mower as long as it has a serial # they can list it stolen in NCIC.
It varies by state, but many states require everything taken in at a pawn shop be checked against NCIC. If your state doesn't and you spot your item in a pawn shop if you have the serial # on the police it is a quick and easy call to the PD where the pawn shop is and your items are returned. if you don't have the serial # then the odds of proving that item is your are slim to none and even if you see it on the counter you probably won't get it back.
Criminals typically keep a life of crime going, and will get busted. When they do many PD's will run everything they find in their possession against NCIC to see if anything comes back stolen to both try and get property back and add charges to the list for whoever they just busted. If an item comes back stolen from you it will get returned.
Just last week a friend of mine who is a deputy here in NC pulled over a truck with an enclosed trailer an GA plates that was acting oddly and local residents had called it in as suspicious. The trailer was full of lawn equipment, and 3 of the pieces came back stolen out of FL. They had been taken when a trailer was stolen from a lawn service almost a year ago, and because the owner had the serial numbers and they were listed the property was recovered and was worth enough that they drove up to get it. I think he said it was a backpack leaf blower, zero turn mower and something else. There was a lot more in there they suspect was probably also stolen but if it didn't come back listed in NCIC they couldn't do anything with it.
They have busted people with some stuff as small as a cheap $30 corded drill because the owner knew the serial number. it may not have been a big item for them to get back but at least in that case it helped bust a thief.
The simplest and easiest way to record serial numbers is get an inexpensive digital camera dedicated to just that. Under $30 on Amazon these days, you simply take a pictures of every item and then a closeup of the serial #. Make a backup copy of the memory card, and when you make a backup of it save all the pics as a .zip file then email the .zip file to yourself. And with a picture of the serial # there is no question of you having the right # so the pawn shop can't claim they have had the item forever and you saw it there and listed it on the report.
There is limited citizen access to NCIC. On https://www.tracechecker.com/index you can enter a serial # and it will tell if if anything with that # is reported stolen. But only LE can see what the item description if so you can run a number for a drill and it may match a gun, that website will only tell you as a private citizen that something with the same # was reported stolen. But a clean run tells you nothing with that # is reported stolen, so that is a green light in thsoe cases at least.