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JSA Report: Dollar Losses From Jewelry Crime Soared In 2019; Burglary Losses Rocketed 249% | December 08, 2020 (0 comments)
New York, NY—Jewelers’ Security Alliance’s newly-released 2019 Annual Crime Report shows some shocking numbers and sobering statistics for the jewelry industry: dollar losses from crime against the U.S jewelry industry increased 89.1% over 2018, from $53.4 million to $101 million.
Burglary losses were the biggest driver of the increase, rocketing from $11.6 million in 2018 to $40.5 million in 2019. Though the total number of individual criminal events essentially held steady—it declined a scant 0.2%—and the overall increase in stolen dollar value was largely driven by a relatively small number of very large losses, it’s a wake-up call to the industry that crime can surge at any time.
John Kennedy, JSA president, said, “After many years of significant declines in dollar losses from crime, the industry got a jolt in 2019 due to large dollar crime losses caused by very active professional gangs, particularly sophisticated burglary gangs. While losses have moderated in 2020 due to Covid-19 closures and disruptions, the disturbing statistics of 2019 should be a wake-up call for the industry that the bad old days of escalating crime losses can quickly return. JSA particularly thanks its FBI and law enforcement partners for their arrests of a large number of the dangerous criminals from 2019 cases.”
Related: As Jewelers’ Business Comes Back Nationwide, Burglars Are Back Too, Says JSA
Kennedy continued, “This Report summarizes information on when, where, and how these crimes occurred. Knowing the information in this Report can help keep jewelers safe from crime. JSA urges all jewelry firm owners and their employees to spend time reading and discussing this Report and examining the serious risks that your jewelry business faces.”
Other notable results from the Report include the following:
- Good news: No homicides of jewelers were recorded by JSA for 2019, a first in decades. Over the last 24 years, 124 jewelers have been killed in crimes against the industry and, sadly, including a the most recent incident in which a Los Angeles jeweler was stabbed to death on November 3.
- As previously mentioned, the total number of crimes committed against U.S. jewelry firms recorded by JSA decreased from 1,441 in 2018 to 1,438 in 2019, a decrease of 0.2%.
- Texas, California, and Michigan continue to be hardest-hit for jewelry crime. These were three of the four most active states for jewelry crimes in 2019 which were, in descending order: Texas, California, Florida, and Michigan. In 2018, also in order, they were: Texas, Caliornia, Michigan, and Illinois.
- January was the most active month for crimes in 2019; December the least.
- The most active time of day for robberies in 2019 was between 8:00 and 9:00 p.m., followed by 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. (Editor’s note: these times may correlate to jewelers’ closing hours.)
- As in previous years, early weekdays, especially Wednesdays, were the most active for robberies, with fewer occurring Thursdays through Sundays.
- Robbery events involving violence and/or guns were higher than 2018 but lower than 2017.
- Smash-and-grab robberies were most common in mall settings, followed by standalone stores, then strip centers and, lastly, downtown locations.
- The number of on-premises burglaries increased by 52.8% in 2019 compared to 2018, going from 214 to 327.
- The number of rooftop-entry burglaries increased from 9 in 2018 to 34 in 2019, an increase of 277.8%.
- The number of safe attack burglaries increased from 13 in 2018 to 44 in 2019, an increase of 238.5%.
- The average loss from a safe attack burglary increased from $221K in 2018 to $491K in 2019.
- Highly mobile professional burglary crews contributed to the rise in sophisticated burglaries.
- There was 101.4% increase in the dollar losses of off-premises crimes, from $7.2 million in 2018 to $14.5 million in 2019.
- Dollar losses from robberies increased from $22 million in 2018 to $34.3 million in 2019, a 55.9% increase.
Kennedy continued, “The preparation of the Crime Report for 2019 was particularly challenging due to the disruptions of Covid-19, but the authors of the Crime Report, JSA Senior Crime Analyst Ryan Ruddock, and JSA Vice President Scott Guginsky, did a magnificent job in collecting and analyzing case information, numbers, locations, trends and methods, and putting it in useful and instructive form.”
To see a copy of the full report, go to the JSA website at: 2019-JSA-Annual-Crime-Report.pdf (jewelerssecurity.org).
For further information, contact John Kennedy, President of JSA, at 212-687-0328 orjsa2@jewelerssecurity.org.