Off-Premises Attacks Spiked in Oct., JSA Says

New York--The number of attacks on traveling jewelry salespeople and retailers away from their stores spiked last month, prompting the Jewelers’ Security Alliance to issue a special alert and advisory.

According to the JSA, there were eight off-premises attacks in the month of October, about four times the monthly average recorded in January-September.

In one recent case, which the JSA described as “dramatic,” two salespeople driving onto a highway entrance ramp near the Seattle suburb of SeaTac were cut off by one car and struck from behind by another.

While one suspect stood nearby and pointed a handgun, two masked suspects approached the vehicle, broke two windows and assaulted the driver before grabbing a backpack containing diamonds and then puncturing the car’s tires.

Other attacks on traveling salespeople occurred in Lexington, Ky., Las Vegas and Chattanooga, Tenn.

The JSA also noted that a traveling salesperson was murdered earlier this year near the Dallas/Fort Worth airport, following a robbery attempt near the same airport the previous week.

Jewelers, meanwhile, were attacked off-premises in Roswell and Lilburn, Georgia; Thousand Oaks, California; and Naples, Florida.

The jeweler in Roswell got hit while leaving through the back door of her store while the jeweler in Lilburn was robbed in his home’s garage, the JSA said.

In the Naples robbery, four men wearing clown masks hid behind some bushes with a baseball bat and hit a jeweler’s SUV. As he walked to the back of the vehicle to inspect the source of the noise, the suspect struck him with bats, jumped into the SUV and drove off with his jewelry.

The JSA has 11 basic security recommendations for traveling salespeople and jewelers when they are carrying merchandise off-premises. They are the following.

1. Never resist in a robbery.

2. Traveling salespeople need to drive evasively after every sales call and before returning to their hotel, home or office. Drive slowly, cruise around the block, make U-turns, or pull into a fast-food restaurant or bank parking lot. Salespeople need to be aware of their surroundings--is anybody following the car?--and note that highway entrance and exit ramps provide a “favorable opportunity” for boxing in vehicles, the JSA said.

3. When driving to a retail store, scout the location. Park as close to the store as possible, do not enter by a rear or secluded entrance, and don’t stay in the car for any length of time before or after making sales calls.

4. Do not leave jewelry in an unattended vehicle.