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New York, NY--Jewelers must be prepared for the wave of burglaries hitting the industry says the Jewelers Security Alliance (JSA).

JSA is seeing a continuing spike in the number of burglaries of retail jewelry stores, including numerous large losses.

To better protect themselves, jewelers need to review their burglary preparedness and consider the following recommendations:

1. Jewelers should confirm with their alarm company that their alarm system will provide protection from entry from the roof, side walls, from the cellar or crawl space, and all possible points of entry, in addition to alarm protection for the doors, windows and safe, which may include motion and vibration sensors.

2. All jewelry premises need adequate line security for their alarm system, and need to test their system from time to time.

3. An empty store or unprotected premise adjacent to a jewelry store presents an especially attractive target for burglars to use to enter from a sidewall. Some retail jewelers have installed steel plates or mesh wire on common walls they share with adjoining stores to make sidewall entry more difficult.

4. Police and jewelers must respond promptly to all alarm signals, communication errors or interruptions of their alarm system. Examination of only the ground floor doors and windows is not sufficient. The roof, sidewalls and all possible points of entry must be examined, including through neighboring premises.

5. Electrical junction boxes need to be examined regularly since some gangs cut or disconnect electrical systems to disable alarm systems and cameras. Gangs may experiment days before in order to test the alarm and electrical systems.

6. Make sure your firm's alarm company call list is up-to-date, with adequate responders even during vacation periods, holidays and weekends. Jewelry personnel should never enter the jewelry premises alone in response to an alarm signal, but should wait to be accompanied by police.

7. Do not position a safe on an outside wall or a wall of a neighboring office, hallway or store that would allow burglars to break through a wall and penetrate the safe without even entering the jeweler's premises.

8. TL-15 and TL-30 rated safes are not adequate protection from today's burglars, who can purchase inexpensive cutting devices from Home Depot or Lowes that can cut into and penetrate these safes. JSA is also seeing safes being torched, so a torch-resistant safe provides better protection. JSA does not see safes with the U.L. rating of TRTL 30x6 being entered.

9. Burglars may remove camera surveillance equipment when leaving the store. It is recommended to have your surveillance images also sent and stored in the cloud or to a remote location in addition to any images saved at the store.

10. Do not leave merchandise out at night in showcases. Leaving any merchandise in showcases is a magnet for burglars. Even if all merchandise will not fit in a safe, lock low-end merchandise away and out of sight in a closet or drawer. If burglars are attracted and break through walls and windows and smash showcases, the damage to the store and possible business interruption can be more costly than the loss of the low-end merchandise. Furthermore, burglars often take enough low-end merchandise that is left out overnight to amount to a significant loss.

11. Don't cover showcases with a cloth or other material when the store is closed. It is safer when potential burglars case your store to see empty, exposed showcases rather than covered showcases.

12. It is best to use interior lighting when closed as long as you put away all goods. Criminals casing the store will see that the showcases are empty, and police or anyone passing by will be better able to see intruders.

13. Make sure your inventory records are up to date in case of a burglary and do not keep your original diamond grading reports in the safe with the diamonds. Keep them separate so the burglars will not get the certificates.

14. Jewelry store burglars case stores in the days and weeks before they hit. Jewelers should take special note of all suspicious activity, and record the details (license plates, suspect descriptions, time and date, etc.) in a store suspicious incident book. If there is suspicious activity, report it to the police and request extra patrols at your store.