57.408.  Sheriff to establish personal property identification system (all noncharter counties and St. Louis City). — Sheriffs in all counties, except counties having a charter form of government, or in any city not within a county, shall establish and make available an identification system for the identification of personal property.  Anyone, upon application to a sheriff, shall be assigned an identification number to be composed of at least ten characters which will readily permit law enforcement officials of this state, in cooperation with officials in other states using interstate computerized law enforcement communication systems and other methods, to recover stolen property.  The identification number should follow substantially the following form:

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New owners of any marked property should be encouraged by the sheriff to mark their identification number below the previous owner's mark for uniformity and ease of identification.  The sheriff of any city not within a county shall identify each application for a weapon permit as provided in section 564.630^* with the applicant's identification number of the police department in said city.