Marshall Co. Commissioners approve LeadsOnline agreement, a new tool for sheriff detectives

Marshall County Sheriff Matt Hassel asked the Marshall County Commissioners for approval to sign an agreement with LeadsOnline.

LeadsOnline was founded in 2000 in Plano, Texas, to help pawn shops and other businesses dealing in secondhand goods digitize their tickets to comply with reporting requirements. Now, 25 years later, they are a team of hundreds working across the globe to provide an entire platform to accelerate criminal investigations.

The goal of LeadsOnline has been to put the right tools in the right hands, democratizing powerful, crime-solving technology to help anyone involved with investigations work more efficiently. They exist to help global law enforcement agencies advance more cases faster with their unique data, well-designed technology, and exceptional teamwork.

The sheriff told the commissioner, “This is an investigatory tool that other departments have been using.  My detectives have come to me and said they looked at this and feel it’s a really good deal.” Hassel explained the program as an electronic tracking mechanism for private property being sold, particularly to pawn shops. He said a lot of stolen property is found through this service. 

The locked-in pricing for the next three years is $3,100 for 2025, $3,200 for 2026, and $3,300 for 2026. The sheriff said the agreement has a 60-day notice to withdraw by either party.

Commissioner Stan Klotz asked the sheriff if he had the funds in his budget for the service and he told him he did.

While the commissioners unanimously approved the agreement, Judge Tami Napier wanted to speak in favor of the LeadsOnline agreement. She told them, as a Chief Deputy Prosecutor for 18 years, that this service is an incredibly valuable tool.  The judge did point out that the county needs to pass an ordinance to require pawn shops in the county to upload pawned items daily to the service. 

Judge Napier said, “Having access to that information is incredibly important, but every county needs an ordinance to require the pawn shops in the county to upload that every day to LeadsOnline.”  She said if a home is burglarized or a garage is broken into, they can solve the crime using the data provided because the system is national.

Judge Napier said she used the data to help solve a murder case in Marshall County, where items were stolen and pawned.  Detectives in Saint Joe County who had access to LeadsOnline located some of the pawned items, and it helped lead police to the murders. The judge said, “It’s a crucial part of the evidence in connecting identity to an alleged defendant.”

Commissioner Jesse Bohannon motioned to create the required ordinance to require pawn shops in Marshall County to upload information daily into the LeadsOnline software.