Jewelry Crime Drops Again, Falling 15% in 2015

New York--The number of crimes committed against the jewelry industry continued its steady decline in 2015.

According to the annual crime report compiled by the Jewelers’ Security Alliance, the number of crimes against the industry decreased from 1,381 in 2014 to 1,177 in 2015, a nearly 15 percent drop.

Two jewelers lost their lives during crimes against jewelry firms in 2015, compared to three in 2014. The number of jewelers who were victims of non-fatal shots dropped from 15 to three.

Total dollar losses also were down, declining from $77.8 million in 2014 to $69.3 million in 2015, an 11 percent decline. When adjusted for inflation, JSA data shows that dollar losses have dropped 63 percent since 1998 and 23 percent in the last five years.

The 2015 report, which was released late Friday, cited information sharing and “excellent” police work as the two factors that continued to drive down the crime rate.

In 2015, police arrested members of two large smash-and-grab robbery rings, one that operated out of Detroit and one that was based in Oakland, Calif. The arrests of some of the individuals linked to the Oakland robbery crew happened after the FBI received a tip to check photo-sharing social media site Instagram for “incriminating” photos. 

These two rings contributed to an “explosion” in the number of smash-and-grabs in 2014, according to the JSA. After they were taken out of commission, the number of smash-and-grab robberies dropped by exactly half, from 48 in the first six months of 2015 to 24 in the second.

The FBI and major law enforcement agencies also arrested a major rooftop burglary gang, which cut incidences of this type of crime from 36 in 2014 to 19 in 2015.

“While the diamond, jewelry and watch industry is still a dangerous business, nevertheless, the long term trend in jewelry crime is still firmly down,” JSA President John J. Kennedy said in the news release accompanying the report. “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.”

To view the full report, visit JewelersSecurity.org.

National Jeweler will follow up with a more in-depth look at the JSA’s 2015 statistics later this week.