Police Pawn Shop Registry Catches Thief
An early technological shift in policing—the 'watch-book' system—allows detectives to track down stolen goods in record time.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The value of the 'watch-book' system now in use by the Tacoma police department was fully demonstrated last night when city detectives were enabled to arrest a thief one-half hour after he had pawned a watch stolen ten months ago from a room of the Northern Hotel. The pawn dealer gave a partial description of the man who had left the timepiece, and in a few minutes the officers had Gust Evigi behind the bars of the city jail. Evigi claims that he bought the watch, but his story is not credited.
“The pawn dealer gave a partial description of the man who had left the timepiece, and in a few minutes the officers had Gust Evigi behind the bars of the city jail.”
The 'watch-book' was a low-tech but highly effective surveillance tool that prioritized tracking property over people. This mirrors contemporary debates about digital monitoring systems and the data-driven 'efficiency' of modern law enforcement in tracking consumer goods.
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