The Jewellers Association of Australia (JAA) is extending on the valuable work achieved through liaisons between the NSW Head Office, JAA Victorian Branch Committee Members, and the Victorian Police by forging an alliance with NSW Police. As a result key contacts within NSW Police have been established.

A teleconference between the JAA Head Office Team, the JAA Victorian Branch Committee, and NSW Police contacts was conducted to discuss how the NSW Police can assist on security related initiatives for JAA NSW Members. As a result the JAA is pleased to announce that NSW Police is working on a toolkit of resources tailored to the jewellery industry. In the future, this toolkit will be circulated to NSW JAA members to proactively assist in keeping the industry safer.

The JAA is committed to providing important information on topics such as current crime trends, what to do in the case of a robbery, how to liaise with police, how to keep yourselves safe, how to be more observant, how to help prevent crime and what to so if you are the victim of a crime.

In addition to the toolkit, the JAA will also be involved in meetings that cover current crime trends and international intelligence so that we can report back information relevant to our industry and give us a channel to raise industry concerns with Police Departments and the Justice Department.

The NSW Police contacts are an important asset to have should the industry ever need to step up its focus on NSW crime matters. The contacts will also act as a link to international programs and events where information is shared on the subject of jewellery robbery and burglary.

The Executive Director of the JAA, Amanda Hunter, has said “Whilst crime is not a pleasant subject to focus on, for the industry to be better informed on how to keep itself safer and be able to focus on the more positive aspects of their business is such an important matter. This is about being proactive in NSW and the focus on prevention is key. There are a lot of useful resources and tips the NSW Police can provide for both the physical security such as store layout and security systems, through to more internal matters, process and training considerations. Some of this information and the associated contacts are state specific and so it makes sense for us to expand on the great work achieved with Victoria Police to build a national resource bank. We are also gathering professionals on the topic of Cybercrime so that we can encourage the industry to share more knowledge on this threat that we know sadly some industry members have already been a victim of”.

She also remarked that  “…Although NSW has not been subject to the same volume of violent crimes that Victoria has endured in recent months, a large part of our membership and the industry operates in NSW and we want them to feel they have done all they can to keep themselves and their teams as safe as possible”.

In the last month, the JAA has produced electronic communications on how to report suspicious activity and a “see something say something” campaign along, with general security tips and resource links. The JAA continues to offer services such as the robbery alert subscription service, information on robberies, and lost and stolen item alerts via the Alerts section of the JAA website at jaa.com.au as well as our online Stop Thief course tailored to the jewellery industry.  

The JAA looks forward to distributing the NSW toolkit as soon as it is provided by NSW Police.