Headlines

Thanks to Crack Police Work, Crime Against Jewelry Stores Takes a Dive

Published

8 years ago

March 9, 2016

INSTORE Staff

Arrests of two major smash-and-grab robbery gangs help bring theft rate down in 2015.

The Jewelers’ Security Alliance has released its 2015 Annual Crime Report covering crime against the jewelry industry in the U.S, which offers some pretty encouraging facts and figures.

The report says that the total number of crimes dipped from 1,381 in 2014 to 1,177 in 2015, marking a decrease of 14.7 percent. Total dollar losses also decreased from $77.8 million in 2014 to $69.3 million in 2015, a decrease of 10.9 percent.

In a release announcing the report, the JSA credits these declines to information sharing and the work of the FBI and local law enforcement agencies, pointing to the arrests of two major smash-and-grab robbery gangs in the first half of 2015. As a result of these arrests, there were half as many smash-and-grab robberies in the second half of 2015 (24) as in the first half of 2015 (48). For the full year 2015, smash-and-grab robberies numbered 72 compared to 110 in 2014.

“While the diamond, jewelry and watch industry is still a dangerous business, nevertheless, the long-term trend in jewelry crime is still firmly down,” says JSA President John Kennedy. “The significant decline that JSA has seen in crime is due to the greater sharing of crime information within the industry and with law enforcement, and from the terrific cooperation that the industry receives from the FBI and local law enforcement agencies.”

Check out JSA’s full report here.

When There’s No Succession Plan, Call Wilkerson

Bob Wesley, owner of Robert C. Wesley Jewelers in Scottsdale, Ariz., was a third-generation jeweler. When it was time to enjoy life on the other side of the counter, he weighed his options. His lease was nearing renewal time and with no succession plan, he decided it was time to call Wilkerson. There was plenty of inventory to sell and at first, says Wesley, he thought he might try to manage a sale himself. But he’s glad he didn’t. “There’s no way I could have done this as well as Wilkerson,” he says. Wilkerson took responsibility for the entire event, with every detail — from advertising to accounting — done, dusted and managed by the Wilkerson team. “It’s the complete package,” he says of the Wilkerson method of helping jewelers to easily go on to the next phase of their lives. “There’s no way any retailer can duplicate what they’ve done.”