$1,819.21. That’s the price per ounce of gold in the US today, and that’s the reason gold theft is on the rise.
All over the country, thieves are targeting gold, up from $600 an ounce last year. Gold jewelry is easy to steal, carry and melt down from its original form, making it harder to trace than precious stones.
It’s not just purveyors of gold that need to worry — students across the country have had gold jewelry stolen from their necks in broad daylight. While gold theft is not quite as prevalent in Provo as in major cities, it does happen.
“One thing that we really stress to people is that they need to be a hard target,” said Sgt. Matt Siufanua, public information officer for the Provo Police Department.
To be a hard target, Siufanua said, is to be careful about one’s valuables.
“Don’t put it in an easy-to-see location or in an obvious location,” Siufanua said.
Siufanua suggested that small valuables like gold or cash are best kept out of sight in a safe or something else locked. He said a safe-deposit box at the bank is worth the investment for keeping such valuables safe if students have no other option available.
“If it’s not secured, if somebody breaks into your house and burglarizes it, they will go through your entire house –they’re not just going to look in cupboards that are in the living room or the kitchen, they’re going to go everywhere in your house looking in every spot that they can think of,” Siufanua said.
Cherie Holland, a sophomore from Madrid, Iowa, has a gold garnet ring and a pair of gold earrings. She hasn’t had it stolen, but said she’s still careful.
“Usually if I’m not wearing them I keep them locked up in my jewelry box, and my jewelry box is hidden where no one can find it except for me,” Holland said.
Holland, an English major, said she rarely leaves her door unlocked, and then only when she’ll just be out long enough to check the mail.
Criminals, according to Siufanua, come in all sizes and places — personal items could be stolen by anyone from a random drug dealer on the street to someone at a person’s church or school. He said one of the biggest mistakes anyone can make is to assume they are safe, even on campus, and that it’s especially important for students to lock their doors.
“Students are notorious for leaving their door open when they leave,” Siufanua said. “We’ve had hundreds of walk-in burglaries in BYU apartments. You’ve got to be a hard target, and one of those things means that you actually lock your door when you leave your apartment.” He said walk-in burglars in these circumstances are often mistaken for friends of the tenants by neighbors.
“If you have a room within the apartment, my suggestion would be that you try to secure that as well by a deadbolt, so when you leave you can at least lock your apartment,” Siufanua said.
Although most thefts in Provo and on campus have more to do with electronics and cash, it is important for victims of theft to file a police report as soon as possible.
“Once it’s melted down it’s almost impossible for identification,” Siufanua said.
Owners of gold should be able to thoroughly describe their property if it is stolen — inscriptions, scratches and other characteristics. Siufanua said the better your description is, the better chance there is of your property being recovered.
In the past, thieves might have sold or pawned what they stole. However, pawn shops are now required to take descriptions of everything they buy to the police. Those descriptions are entered into a police database.
“On a daily basis they check our status,” pawn shop employee Samuel Santiago said.
Santiago, who works at E Z Pawn (300 S. University Ave.) said most of the stolen gold that comes into pawn shops is stolen by family members. He said the key to recovering stolen gold is to report it.
“The sooner the better, in regard to making a police report,” Siufanua said.
