The Baltimore City Council moved ahead with a ban on ecoATM cash-for-phone machines last night, rejecting an amendment by the bill’s sponsor that would have allowed the machines, with modifications, to come into the city.

Councilman Bill Henry said his amendment died because of public concern that the self-serve kiosks – already operating in malls just outside the city line – have stoked the increase in sometimes-violent cellphone thefts on city streets and university campuses.

(The thefts and their relation to the self-serve machines were detailed last week by The Brew.)

“It was more of a perception issue than a practical issue,” Henry said this morning.

His amendment would have permitted Automated Purchasing Machines or APMs – which dispense cash in return for used cellphones – as long as they could be made to conform with the reporting standards set out in “second-hand dealer” laws that govern pawn shops.

With that amendment, San Diego-based ecoATM had been “comfortable with the legislation that the Council will pass,” its City Hall lobbyist, Sean Malone, had told The Brew in an earlier interview.

What passed instead was a straightforward ban. When Henry introduced his change to fellow Council members last night, it failed to get a second motion.

Scared by the Spike

The District 4 councilman, who has spoken favorably about ecoATM since meeting with its representatives, was asked today what happened.

“With the recent spike in cellphone thefts,” he said, “people are so concerned they did not, I guess, want to allow for even the possibility that the changes to the machines might not be enough” to make them as compliant with city law as pawnshops are required to be.

Company officials and a representative from Baltimore City Police, Henry noted, met over the summer and discussed ways to alter the machines, including making it possible for them to identify serial numbers even on dead phones.

But the bill given preliminary approval last night would, upon final passage, essentially ban ecoATMs in Baltimore.

The Council’s move follows the lead of some other cities, such as Riverside, Calif., where a City Council bill banning APMs received preliminary approval last month and is expected to pass the full council tonight.

Riverside’s police chief has, like Washington D.C.’s chief of police, criticized the machines for making it easier for criminals to unload hot phones, calling them “an invitation to theft.”

Company Defends APMs

With some 650 kiosks located in malls across the country, ecoATM has argued that its product has numerous safeguards – including a photo ID and thumbprint reader – that make it a greater deterrent to thieves than many other places where stolen phones can be sold.

The measure approved last night on second reader was strengthened by a set of amendments giving police the right to seize APMs that violate the law.

Asked today why the Council moved to ban their product, ecoATM’s marketing director Ryan Kuder said, “I can’t answer the question. We’ve been in the press a lot lately.”

“Why you would target a single company that’s been working with the police and provides so much information to law enforcement to help stop and prevent cellphone theft, I don’t understand,” he continued, vowing to work in Annapolis to push for “a really good bill that elevates the level of transparency in the entire industry.”

Councilman Henry said he will be encouraging state lawmakers and neighboring jurisdictions that allow the machines (including Baltimore, Howard and Anne Arundel counties) to follow Baltimore’s lead and ban the machines.