Financial losses totaled $72M.
The number of crimes committed against U.S. jewelry firms — at least those reported to the Jewelers’ Security Alliance — climbed 5.8 percent last year to 1,245.
There was a particularly sharp spike in grab-and-run thefts.
The total dollar value of crimes against jewelry businesses was $72.4 million, up 4.5 percent the previous year. In 2015 there were 1,177 crimes against jewelry businesses, with losses totaling $69.3 million.
Reports of grab-and-run thefts increased 40 percent to 420 in 2016. Average losses from such thefts amounted to $7,664.
JSA reports that grab-and-run losses were reported in 47 states. About 34 percent of all thefts reported to JSA in 2016 were of the grab-and-run variety.
Grab-and-runs can result in significant dollar losses, JSA noted. One such theft in Colorado resulted in a loss of $118,000.
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Off-premises crimes, including those targeting traveling salespeople, fell to 48 in 2016, the second-lowest total since the 1980s, according to JSA.
There were six homicides of jewelers in 2016, including a rare triple homicide in Jackson, MS.
The number of robberies in 2016 — 174 — represented a 24.7 percent decrease from 2015.
Burglaries were up 12.1 percent to 287.
Jewelry-industry financial losses from crime have declined significantly over the years. Stated in 2016 dollars, such losses totaled more than $190 million in 1998. They stayed above $100 million per year until 2010.
Read more at JSA
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