The Jewelers’ Security Alliance has launched a new Web site that will provide information on stolen jewelry.
JSA’s Stolen Jewelry Web Site, www.stolenjewelry.org, which went live in January, is the only clearinghouse of information on stolen jewelry, gems, and watches available to the industry and the general public, said John J. Kennedy, JSA president.
Those in the industry who have had their jewelry stolen and would like information about the items made available to law-enforcement personnel and to others in the jewelry industry can do so through the Web site. The site also can be used to check whether a piece of jewelry has been reported as stolen.
The database for the Web site contains a listing of stolen and recovered jewelry reported to JSA. Access to this database requires online registration, including an e-mail address. Law-enforcement personnel can list any recovered or stolen merchandise. Jewelers or members of the public can list stolen jewelry as long as they have filed a police report and inform JSA of the agency with which the report was filed and the date.
Listed items are limited to jewelry, watches, diamonds, and other precious gems. JSA will make a decision on each submission regarding whether the item should be included.
“The more items that are entered, the more valuable this resource will become,” Kennedy said.
Kennedy said JSA wanted to provide this service for a long time, but it was too costly, and it was difficult to figure out a way to do it right.
The JCK Industry Fund provided a grant for the Web site. Kennedy noted that JSA developed a template for people to search for items easily and list items in a way that would provide the best description possible for law enforcement and others.
“The real tough part is analyzing how you put the data in, how to describe each item, and how to search it in a way that can be meaningful,” Kennedy said. “We get everything from people, and a lot of the time it’s incomplete.”
Kennedy said JSA is promoting the Web site heavily to law-enforcement departments throughout the United States and also listing it as high as possible on search engines to allow the general public to use the site.
“When you go to Google and put in ‘stolen jewelry,’ we come up fifth or sixth,” Kennedy said. “We’ll be coming up number one soon.” At press time, they were number two.
He added, “We are in the very early stages. I expect to have thousands of items listed from the public.”