As president of the Jewelers’ Security Alliance since 1992, John Kennedy has attended every JCK Las Vegas since its inception. Here, he discusses why jewelry trade shows are generally safe and the simple precautions attendees can take to keep themselves even safer.
How has the security situation in the jewelry industry changed since 2019?
For the last two and half years, there have been very few salespeople on the road, and therefore very few robberies of traveling salespeople. Now with COVID somewhat behind us, we’re seeing a rash of robberies. With more people traveling, the criminals who do these crimes are traveling again too. We just saw three big robberies recently.
I think there’s a sense that because there haven’t been any big losses in the last few years, people can relax. And they can’t.
What should people keep in mind as far as trade show security?
Getting your jewelry to and from the show can be tricky. The traditional recommendation we make is that you should ship jewelry to and from the show. But for a variety of a reasons—primarily cost—people don’t.
Also, exhibitors shouldn’t leave product in their booth overnight. At a recent show, someone left their backpack at their booth, and it was stolen by an intruder. Please put any product you have in either a safe in your booth or the show vault. If your booth is busy, make sure you put away what you have or get a guard or extra help. But don’t leave goods on the counter. Put stuff away. It’s too vulnerable.
Even leaving items in the rooms is not a good idea. We don’t trust hotel safes at all.
And don’t show or display your jewelry at a local restaurant or a hotel lobby. That’s very dangerous. Jewelers coming to shows have a tendency to wear their most impressive things. That’s fine. You just have to follow proper security protocols. Don’t wear your badge outside the premises. Don’t be talking jewelry business in a way that can be overheard. If you are carrying a case that looks like it contains jewelry, you could be a target.
We keep hearing on the news that crime is up. Is that true in the jewelry industry?
No. What we are seeing is that it’s up from the very low base that we saw during COVID, when it hit record lows. It’s not even at the levels that it was at pre-COVID. There are some high-profile crimes, and pockets of crime, but in terms of the statistics, losses, and the total amount of losses, jewelry crime is way down.
It’s the same as with other crime statistics. I remember when there were 2,400 homicides a year in New York. Now, there are 400. That’s up from 300. So, it’s up, but crime is still at historically low levels.
How about crime at trade shows?
Trade shows are a safe venue. They are highly protected. The shows spend a fortune on security. These shows are a big business for their local cities, and the police are very attentive to these sort of events.
Even pre-COVID, we saw that the shows had gotten much safer. A number of years back, there could be 10 hits at a show. We don’t see that anymore. The losses we see at the show are usually on the floor—distractions, products left overnight.
While you have to be careful, trade shows are essentially a safe venue for the transfer of jewelry. When you have billions of dollars in jewelry being sold, and losses totaling $100,000, that’s almost trivial.
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