Jewelers Security Alliance Retailer Tips to Thwart In-Store Crime

By Scott Guginsky, JSA, & Jennifer Heebner, Editor in Chief

This is the first in a multipart series of articles about security measures in the jewelry industry.

While incidents of jewelry crimes have been dropping since 2023, dollar losses in 2024 are “through the roof,” according to Scott Guginsky, vice president of the Jewelers Security Alliance (JSA) in New York City.

“In the first nine months of this year, there’s been a decrease in overall crime but a sizable increase in dollar losses,” he told AGTA in a phone interview this week. “Dollar losses are up because of commercial burglaries—side wall, roof, and safe attacks, sophisticated burglaries where thieves are cutting into or torching safes and hitting vaults.”

“There were 79 sophisticated burglaries in the first 10 months of this year compared to 57 in the same period in 2023,” continues Guginsky. “These are driving the industry’s losses.”

Jewelry store owners need to prepare for the upcoming holiday season by being aware of incidents and prepared to address red flag scenarios.

“Most burglaries happen over the weekend,” adds Guginsky. “There will be side wall and safe attacks on Thanksgiving—criminals don’t take off on the holidays. They will take advantage of them.”

JSA encourages vigilance and preparedness. Heed these tips to be ready for a secure holiday season.

9 Tips to Thwart Burglaries

Jewelers must respond to all alarm signals promptly, including notice of communication errors or power interruption. Jewelry personnel should never enter the jewelry premises alone in response to an alarm signal but should wait to be accompanied by police.
When responding to an alarm, examination of only the ground floor doors and windows is not sufficient. Investigate the roof, sidewalls, and all possible points of entry—including through neighboring premises. Burglars have forced entry through roofs in shopping malls as well as in other types of locations, and many jewelry stores have been broken into through sidewalls after criminals gain access to the roofs of adjacent stores.
Jewelry burglars have been cutting power lines or disabling electrical junction boxes to disable alarm systems and cameras. Junction boxes must be examined when responding to alarm calls. Any unexplained power outage at your store or telephone outage is a red flag.
Jewelers should confirm with their alarm company that their alarm set-up will provide protection from entry from the roof, sidewalls, and all possible points of entry, in addition to doors and windows.
All jewelry premises need adequate line security for their alarm system and need to periodically test their system.
Make sure your firm’s alarm company call list is up to date, with adequate responders even during vacation periods, holidays, and weekends.
Do not position a safe on an outside wall or a wall of a neighboring office or store that would allow burglars to break through a wall and penetrate the safe without even entering the jeweler’s premises.
Safes that are rated TL 15×6 and TL 30×6 are not adequate protection from today’s burglars, who can purchase inexpensive cutting devices from hardware stores that can cut into and penetrate these safes. JSA has seen that burglars find it more difficult to penetrate a TRTL 30×6-rated safe.
Don’t leave merchandise out at night in showcases. Leaving inexpensive merchandise in showcases encourages break-ins. Even if all merchandise will not fit in a safe, try to lock low-end merchandise away and out of sight. If burglars break through walls and windows and smash showcases, the damage to the store and possible business interruption can be more costly than the loss of the low-end merchandise. Furthermore, burglars often take enough low-end merchandise that is left out overnight to amount to a significant loss.

12 Tips to Guard Against Smash & Grabs

Do not resist in a smash-and-grab robbery. Suspects may be armed with guns, knives, sledgehammers, and other dangerous tools. Stay out of their way!
Use showcases with burglary-resistant, laminated glass on the front and sides and with special frames that can withstand many blows with a hammer, as these can prevent or reduce large losses. JSA has not seen robbers take retaliatory action, such as an escalation of force or attacking staff, when laminated glass is used and they’re unable to access a showcase or are able to take only a small amount of merchandise from a small hole. Furthermore, robbers frequently cut themselves on small holes and leave behind valuable DNA evidence from blood.
Having an audible glass breakage alarm on your showcases can scare smash-and-grab robbers away, who are trying to remain in a target store for less than a minute.
Installing buzzers on doors enables employees to identify potential threats and prevent robberies.
Hiring armed, off-duty police officers or uniformed guards in stores can be a deterrent to smash-and-grab robbers.
Placing high-end watch and loose Diamond merchandise in several showcases and not concentrated in one showcase can reduce losses in smash-and-grab robberies.
Do not display an entire inventory of highly targeted products in cases but rather keep some quantity in the safe.
Eye-level surveillance cameras positioned inside and outside the store, including ones aimed at cars in the parking lot, provide excellent evidence for police. Ceiling cameras too often capture useless photos of the top of heads or hats.
Keep a logbook of suspicious incidents and save the surveillance video from these incidents to aid in potential investigations.
Quickly share information and photos of possible casings and suspects with local jewelers, police, and the JSA to help prevent crime and assist with investigations.
Train employees to spot warning signs and red flags about store casings.
Retail jewelry stores in malls should alert mall security to the occurrence of smash-and-grab jewelry robberies to discuss protocols and prevention and coverage by surveillance cameras inside the mall and in the parking lot if such crimes occur.

4 Tips to Prevent Distraction Thefts

Ensure that sales associates are the last individuals to examine and handle boxes with jewelry to make sure the correct items are inside. Do not let customers do the wrapping, as distraction thieves often use the packaging process as part of their ploy to steal.
After you have shown an item, make sure you return it to the showcase. Do not let a distraction thief disrupt your routine with questions or by flashing cash.
Customers who need to return to their car for their credit card or more cash to pay is a red flag because they have likely already distracted the sales associate and stolen the jewelry that they claim they will purchase.
Keep gates or doors to a rear safe or work room closed and locked to prevent anyone from accessing the safe or bench area.

JSA members can sign up for the Text Crime Alerts program to stay vigilant and safer. Members can click here to sign up or log onto the JSA website to join and then sign up.

This is proprietary content for AGTA and may not be reproduced.