CHI AGO p LICE - Chicago Cop.com

UTO CATCH A THIEp JJ •••ON 15 APRIL 1963, a jewelry salesmanhad his chauffeur park hiscar and wait while he went insidea restaurant to eat. In the trunkof the car were 10 cases of jewelry,worth $100,000. As a precaution, thesalesman double-locked the ignition anddropped the key in his pocket.The precaution turned out to be useless.The chauffeur "jumped" the ignitionand drove away with the jewelry.Ten days later, States Attorneys' policearrested five men, including thechauffeur, who had been involved in thetheft. But still missing was a sixth memberof the gang, and a large quantity ofthe jewelry.The eventual recovery of the missingjewelry and the arrest and conviction ofanother man not known to have been involvedcame about through the sleuthingof detectives assigned as Area PawnShop investigators in the Detective Division'sBurglary section, commanded byCommander William B. Griffin.THEQUIET, DAY-BY-DAY sleuthing ofthe Pawn Shop investigators isn'tusually so dramatic. But, says DetectiveKucic, who is now the Liaison Officer,it's never dull. Kucic, a veteran policeofficer of 24 years, and a Pawn Shopinvestigator for 5, talks about his workwith enthusiasm. "f find this workinteresting and intriguing. The workgets you; you get a lead on somethingand you want to keep going and goinguntil you get it solved."Every day Detective Kucic sits downand reviews about 100 pawn shopssheets. Most of these sheets are fromChicago's 49 pawn shops. The rest arefrom secondhand stores, camera stores,jewelers and re-sale shops, who also sendin reports, even though they're not requiredby law to do so."It's a way of protecting themselvesin case they're ever found in possessionof stolen property," says Kucic.As he goes over these sheets, hecircles anything that looks suspicious.What makes Detective Kucic suspiciousabout an article that was pawned?"Sometimes, as in the jewel theft case,it's a name that begins reappearing ondifferent pawn shop sheets, often theperson pawning the same type of item.I'm also suspicious of any office machines;why is someone pawning anthe quietday-by-day sleuthingof thePawn Shop investigatorsturns upnot only thieves,but robbers, burglars,murderersaswell asthousands of dollarsof stolen property(con.l.inued on n.ext page)AUGUST, 1965 t 3