The Gemological Institute of America, through its alumni association, has started a crime watch network.

GIA describes its Alumni Chapter Crime Alert Network as a jewelry industry version of the “Neighborhood Watch,” a way to share information on crime and suspicious activity. GIA is working with the Jewelers’ Security Alliance, which has been advocating and helping to form these networks around the country.

When the JSA learns of crimes, it will e-mail the crime alerts to the GIA Alumni headquarters department in Carlsbad. The GIA Alumni department will then e-mail these warnings to the appropriate GIA chapters and GIA graduates.

Once an alumni chapter has set up a Crime Alert Network, any chapter member who hears of a jewelry-related crime will e-mail his or her chapter contact who will then e-mail that information to their GIA chapter and the JSA.

GIA graduates without a GIA Alumni Chapter in their area who hear about jewelry-related crime can e-mail JSA directly. JSA will also try to put those without a nearby GIA Alumni Chapter in touch with another existing local crime network in their area.

“Our goal is to help protect GIA Alumni by providing them with the most current information on criminal activity in their area in a time effective manner,” said Rose McKenna, GIA alumni relations manager.

John Kennedy, president of the Jewelers Security Alliance, added, “We believe that communication among jewelers and with their local police is key when it comes to protecting people against jewelry-related crimes. Working with GIA to spread information about industry related crimes to jewelers across the country will keep the level of mutual awareness high, result in more arrests and help prevent additional crimes from happening.”

JCK