The National Association of Goldsmiths (NAG) first Retail Security Conference was a “smash hit with retailers” according to association CEO and co-founder of the security scheme SaferGems, Michael Hoare. The conference, place at Watford’s Building’s Research Establishment (BRE) on Tuesday October 16, was the first, of what the Michael Hoare says “will be an annual event geared toward tackling crime in the jewellery industry.”
Sponsored by forensic marking product company SmartWater, and held with insurers TH March, the event bought together security exhibitors with testers from the BRE to show jewellers what they need to know about keeping themselves secured. Quoting Albert Einstein’s famous adage about insanity, Michael Hoare said, “criminals are constantly learning – what we seem to do is keep doing the same things, and expecting different results. This is something the jewellery industry needs to change. We wanted to give attendees a real idea of the lengths criminals will go to – and what the BRE, and security professionals do, day in, day out, to try and stay one step ahead. I mentioned at the start of the day that I didn’t want to scare the bejesus out of anyone – but in some senses, that’s what the industry needs to take this issue more seriously. This event has hopefully sent some people home with grand plans of how to make their daily practices safer. Some of the most prominent ideas to come out of the day were how jewellers need to be more aware of what standards they should be seeking when using certain security items. Our speakers gave a detailed analysis of testing standards, timings and tools used by criminals and put to the test many preconceptions held about common security products. It really was an eye opener on what kind of products our members are using – and what kind of products they should really be using.”
One attendee was owner of W Major & Sons Ltd, Nicholas Major, who has recently been a victim of crime at his shop in East Grinstead. Nicholas said: “I found the conference to be an extremely beneficial and very informative day. It was really useful to be made aware of the latest developments in crime prevention and criminal tactics. If I’m honest, I wasn’t very savvy with polycarbonate glass, so I found the glass product demonstration extremely interesting. It also made me come to terms with the fact that we all need to be aware that all these security measures are essentially time delay measures. No matter what protection you have, burglars are always likely to find a way around it. As jewellers we just have to focus on the time delay factor; how long we can stall them until assistance arrives. Although it made me realise that you can never become entirely bullet-proof. I still think events like this are important for keeping us up to date with recent developments and trying to make sure you’re doing everything in your power to make the criminals’ job even harder and more importantly, to keep your staff safer.”
For more information about retail security, you can contact the National Association of Goldsmiths for tips and advice on 0207 613 4445 or visit their website at www.jewellers-online.org
