Police get tool to combat burglaries

Staff report
Jefferson Police Capt. Heath Enns issued a warning this week to thieves.

“Burglaries and thefts in our community WILL NOT be tolerated,” Enns said Tuesday in an email announcing the department’s access to LeadsOnline, a tool that allows police to track sales at pawn outlets across the nation.

An anonymous donation of $2,200 is enabling access to LeadsOnline for the Jefferson Police Department and the Greene County Sheriff’s Office, Enns said.

LeadsOnline touts itself as the “nation’s largest online investigation system for law enforcement, providing rapid electronic access to transactions from thousands of reporting businesses including scrap metal processors, secondhand stores, Internet drop-off stores and pawn shops across the country, as well as critical information from eBay listings for criminal investigations.”

Jefferson police have been dealing with a recent rash of daytime burglaries, Chief Mark Clouse acknowledged this week.