By Brian Thompson

An Indianapolis police officer and councilman is preparing legislation to require ticket brokers to obtain licenses as a way to combat counterfeit ticket selling, something that remains a serious issue in the secondary ticket market.

Two men were recently arrested on forgery charges for attempting to sell fraudulent tickets to the NFL Week 17 matchup between the Tennessee Titans and the Indianapolis Colts. Indianapolis Police Lt. Lincoln Plowman wants to put a stop to this practice. As the Republican City Council Majority Leader, Plowman intends to introduce legislation within the next two to three months which he hopes would put an end to counterfeit ticket sales. In a recent interview with TicketNews, he explained that he wants to license scalpers, as ticket resale to most events is legal in Indianapolis. This legislation has already been introduced successfully in other parts of the state.

Plowman has already spoken with legitimate street ticket brokers, who support the legislation, because they believe their trade is hurt by the forgeries as much as fans suffer from buying bad tickets. Outside of major sporting events such as the college basketball’s Final Four, there is no 1,500-foot buffer zone outside of events that street brokers have to observe in the city. Thus, these legitimate street brokers can do good business anywhere in Indianapolis.

“Fans would be able to see the licensed scalpers, and would be able to trust these individuals,” Plowman said. After all, if hot dog and peanut carts are required to have permits to conduct business, why not the brokers?

Of course, some individuals may try to create realistic forgeries of the broker licenses. But, Plowman hopes that fans will learn to ask street brokers to go with them to make sure their tickets properly scan at the gate before agreeing to pay.

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(The image accompanying this story is from MichiganDaily.com)

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