Headlines

Here’s the State of Jewelry Crime in the US Right Now

Published

7 years ago

August 2, 2017

INSTORE Staff

The JSA released a new report.

Jewelry-store robberies and burglaries were down through the first half of this year, according to newly released statistics from the Jewelers’ Security Alliance.

Thefts, however, were up.

There were 77 robberies in the first six months of 2017, compared with 91 in the same period of 2016. The dollar value of this year’s crimes was $8.4 million, down from $16.3 million the first half of 2016.

“Dollar losses from robberies were about half of the same period last year,” said John Kennedy, president of JSA. “Both the number of robberies and the dollar losses from robberies were the lowest in at least the last six years.”

There were 103 burglaries, down from 109. The value this year was $8.9 million, compared with $5.7 million in the same period last year.

Kennedy explained that dollar losses from burglaries were up 56 percent “due to a small number of very high dollar burglary losses.”

The number of thefts rose to 356 from 310. The value of this year’s crimes was $3.9 million, up from $3.1 million in the first half of 2016.

There were 15 off-premises crime cases in the first half of 2017, with a value of $5.8 million. That compared with 18 cases in the same period last year, with a value of $5.7 million.

In all, 551 jewelry crimes were reported in the first half of this year, with a value of $27 million. That compared with 528 cases and a value of $30.8 million in the same period a year earlier.

“The overall, long-term trend in crime against jewelers in the U.S. is down, but there will continue to be ups and downs in individual crime categories,” Kennedy said.

There were 126 arrests in the first half of 2017, compared with 132 in the same period last year.

Kennedy said three jewelers, a customer and a Good Samaritan were killed this year. In the first six months of 2016, one jeweler and three robbers were killed.

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