Smash-and-grab robbers have been targeting jewelers in Michigan and other states during the busy selling season, according to the Jewelers’ Security Alliance.
Recent Michigan robberies or attempts have included:
- Auburn Hills, MI, Dec. 15, two male suspects
- Taylor, MI. Dec. 16, two male suspects
- Troy, MI, Dec. 10, pepper spray used to subdue guard
- Clinton Township, MI, Dec. 6, three male suspects
- Auburn Hills, MI, Dec. 14
- Grandville, MI, Dec. 15, two male suspects
Other incidents have occurred in Ohio, Wisconsin, Georgia and Pennsylvania, according to JSA.
The suspects have concealed their identities with hoods. However, nine suspects, believed to have carried out four of the incidents, have been arrested, according to JSA. All are from Detroit.
“In addition to the violence and effect on staff, the victim stores not only lose needed inventory, but often have to close for repairs during the most important time of the year,” JSA stated. “This pattern of robberies is similar to the wave of smash-and-grab robberies throughout the country that was met with over 50 indictments and arrests of Detroit gang members in 2015.”
To see a police chase and arrest of Detroit suspects from October 2018, go to: https://jewelerssecurity.org/video-subjects-flee-from-police-in-high-speed-chase-through-field/
JSA’s recommendations regarding smash-and-grab robberies:
- Do not resist. In addition to sledgehammers and other dangerous tools, the suspects may be armed with guns.
- Hiring armed, off-duty police officers in the store is a deterrent to smash-and-grab robbers.
- Having buzzers on the door can help to keep out potential robbers.
- Showcases with burglary-resistant, laminated glass and special frames can withstand many blows with a hammer and can prevent or reduce large losses. JSA has not seen robbers take retaliatory action when laminated glass is used and robbers are unable to enter a showcase or are able to take only a small amount of merchandise from a small hole. 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.
- The robbers have been targeting loose diamonds and high-end watches. Spreading high-end watches and loose diamond merchandise among several showcases, and not concentrated in one showcase, can reduce the amount of the loss in a smash-and-grab robbery.
- Surveillance photos from eye-level cameras inside and outside the store provide excellent evidence for police. Ceiling cameras too often capture useless photos of the top of heads or hats.
- Keeping a log book of suspicious incidents, and putting aside and saving surveillance video of suspicious incidents, can be a great help in investigations.
- Sharing information and photos among local jewelers and police, and with JSA, regarding casings and suspects can help prevent crime and assist with investigations.