“I know who you are! GET OUT OF MY STORE!” These words might never have been screamed if not for JHJ CRIME NETWORK. Jewelers are sharing images of bad guys and it’s working. Crimes are being prevented.
Tim owns a store in Florida. The minute the Romanian transient thieves walked in his door he jumped into action. Tim recognized them from the Jewelers Helping Jewelers Crime Network, an industry Facebook group aimed at crime prevention. His wife Patsy took pictures of the suspects and yelled for them to get out. Tim called his neighboring jewelers to warn them. Tim & Patsy also posted images of the suspects on JHJ Crime Alert Network alerting other jewelers and law enforcement. Because of Tim’s post and quick thinking, a jeweler 30 miles away was alert and ready when the bad people came in.
My goal today is to bring the industry together to stop jewelry crimes. The more industry members we get to join our crime prevention Facebook group, the safer we all are. We are already preventing crimes and the group was only started 7 months ago!
Not only are we preventing crimes, but we are retrieving stolen goods! This is so needed in our industry. In July, Gaurav Verma was on the JHJ Jewelers CRIME ALERTS Network and saw a jeweler had posted stolen jewelry and watches. He immediately recognized a few of the items as pieces he had bought in his store on Long Island. Verma had kept records on the seller. This critical information on the identity of the thief helped detectives and law enforcement find even more stolen items. Because of the sharing of information, over $100,000 has been recovered and returned. This would not have not been possible without Jewelers Helping Jewelers Crime Network. This is a greatly needed tool in our industry. The group is open to everyone so please join. Tell your industry friends too.
This next story from a few years ago truly shows the power we have when we work together. A little old Idaho woman survived the Holocaust with only her jewelry. Her most valuable possessions were $50,000 worth of jewelry. She wished to have her jewelry appraised so she could leave it to her children. So she sent it to an appraisal company in Georgia and then….Oh No…..crickets. They ghosted with her most precious possessions! She reached out to a local retail jeweler who, together with Aleah, posted on JHJ asking if anyone was close to the address she shipped it to. Gene Callaway came to the rescue! In an hour, Gene and his buddy, the local sheriff showed up at the shipped address just as a man was loading boxes into a truck. Shaken up, the man in the truck said, “Oh yeah, I think I have that. I’ve just been backed up with jobs.” He gave Gene and the sheriff a bag containing the Holocaust survivor’s jewelry and drove off. A happy ending, all because of jewelers connecting and communicating in real time with one another. We are better together.
The best way to fight crime is to avoid it. This is Jewelers Helping Jewelers and JHJ CRIME NETWORK’S greatest success. Every Monday a task force of crime prevention jewelers broadcasts one simple message about prevention out to 29,000 jewelers. Messages such as, “Leave your case lights on at night.” “Don’t put all your high-end jewelry in one case” and “Only Show 1 item at a time,” are huge reminders that make us all more secure. We urge jewelers to increase security with nudging posts like “What are you going to do to make your store safer today?” Together we remind each other to train often and practice security protocols weekly.
The goal of this article is to get you to join JHJ CRIME NETWORK and to get you involved. If you are not a member, join now. If you are robbed, share your story because when they do catch the criminal, we can put them away longer if more victims come forward. Even if you are not a victim maybe your neighbor was and you can help them in support. Law enforcement and security experts are also members. They’re ready with advice on the best cameras and how to file police reports. Please join. Please invite your friends. Invite law enforcement. Share and learn. It’s working and we just started. We truly are safer together.
