Protecting your Jewelry Store from Smash and Grab Robberies
Jewelry stores remain major targets for smash and grab robbers. The reasons for this are obvious. Jewelry is of high value, it can very easily be resold and it’s small enough that it can quickly be carried from a store without the need for large, complicated or expensive equipment.
This means that anyone who owns or manages a jewelry store needs to focus on security.
Here are a few tips for protecting your jewelry store from smash and grab criminals.
Clear Your Windows at Night
Many smash and grab robberies are crimes of opportunity. This means that criminals don’t necessarily plan their crimes out in advance. Instead, they take advantage when they see a situation where they can commit a crime without being caught.
One sign is a jewelry store that has valuable merchandise in its store windows. When a criminal walks by a location and sees nothing between them and gold, diamonds and other expensive items but a piece of glass, they’re significantly more likely to strike. They know that it’s very likely that they’ll be able to break through the window, steal the jewelry and quickly escape before anyone can respond to the crime.
In order to reduce such crimes, consider removing all items from your windows when your store is closed for business. Place jewelry and other items inside locked cabinets and out of sight. This will decrease the likelihood of a smash and grab robbery.
Use Appropriate Lighting
Criminals obviously do not want to be caught committing a crime. This is why they tend to break into properties when they are closed and rob locations where they won’t be seen. In order to make it more difficult to steal from your location without being noticed, install lighting around your property. People are much less likely to steal when they think they’ll be seen and caught in the act.
Install Physical Security
Physical security is a crucial part of any jewelry store security plan. As mentioned, one of the most common ways that criminals rob jewelry stores is through smash and grab robberies. These are crimes where a person breaks through a window or door using force. Most of these crimes are not sophisticated. Criminals often use baseball bats, crowbars, bricks, rocks and other such tools in order to gain access to a property. They then enter the store, steal as much as they can and leave quickly before anyone can respond. Even if a store’s alarm system automatically contacts the police as soon as a window is broken, it takes time for police to arrive.
Most smash and grab robberies are over in just a few minutes.
Physical security tools, such as security gates, put a barrier between your property and potential criminals. This makes it much more difficult to access a property using smash and grab tactics and it makes it much more time-consuming to rob a location at all. Criminals do not want to hang around the scene of a crime, trying in vain to get through a security gate. They’re much more likely to be caught if they do. This is why criminals tend to avoid locations that have physical security gates ins
Want some more helpful tips to improving the security of your business? Download our helpful guide to Improving Your Security Mindset.
