There’s no meat left to pack in the Meatpacking District. The garmentos who gave the Garment District its name have become scarce. Big financial firms quit the Financial District years ago. While many of Manhattan’s industry-namesake areas have changed, the Diamond District — so far, at least — is forever. But the high-security mindset of 21st century hasn’t completely bypassed the diamond dealers of Midtown.
An umbrella organization for businesses in the district recently activated an advanced video-surveillance system to monitor the block. The project, which had been in the works for 15 years, was finally made possible with a $75,000 counter-terrorism grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The businesses chipped in an extra $25,000.
“We consider ourselves a target for terrorism because of the economic value and the perception that this is a Jewish industry,” explained Michale Grumet, executive director of the Diamond District Business Improvement District.
The area is home 25 jewelry exchanges that hold more than 2,000 independent vendors, according to Grumet. With sales receipts totaling $6 billion each year, the Diamond District is the second largest business improvement district in the world.
Grumet’s group won a grant for six high-tech cameras from the Urban Areas Security Initiative, which provides more than $800 million each year in support of terrorism-prevention programs. The Diamond District became the first BID to ever receive this grant — but it was also the first to ever apply.
“We want our customers to feel totally safe,” said Harvey Nagin, a 32-year fixture on 47th Street as the owner of Nagin Jewelry. “If you look up and see a camera, you’re going to feel good.”
The cameras were manufactured by Total Recall, a security company that specializes in urban surveillance systems. (The company was founded in 1985, before the Arnold Schwarzenegger action film of the same name.) The Suffern, N.Y.-based company has installed close to a thousand CrimeEye units throughout the U.S., including some in Washington D.C. and at the Statue of Liberty.
The company installed cameras on three different buildings on 47th Street. The cameras can focus on a specific subject from three blocks away, said Peter Millius, director of business development for Total Recall.
The footage recorded by the cameras can be saved for up to 30 days and is displayed on monitors at the BID office, staffed by just Grumet and his assistant. The plan is to eventually move the monitors to the local police precinct, Grumet said.
But whether there will be a whole lot of crime to observe on this high-tech system is an open question. Despite the lucrative trade in gems, the Diamond District is hardly a crime hotspot. There have been two robberies, two burglaries, and 18 cases of grand larceny in the Diamond District this year, according the NYPD. In 2009, there were no reported burglaries or robberies.
Modern jewel thieves rely on trickery, which makes them difficult to catch, said Jeff Levine, who owns Firenze Jewels. “They try and make you lay out three or four pieces and they take one,” he said.
The Diamond District’s last notable spate of robberies occurred in the late 1980s, according to long-time shop owners. Professional thieves would set up traps and target dealers transporting items by foot from one building to another.
Moshe Masbacher, president of the Diamond Dealers Club, a trade organization, said these robbers might eat a hotdog on the street and spray a dealer with ketchup to stop a passing diamond dealer in his tracks. Or drop a fake baby and take the jewels when the dealer attempted to help. “These guys were quick,” said Masbacher, who has worked on the block for 30 years. “By the time you realized the baby was actually a doll they were gone with your bag.”
It took years for city authorities and local organizations to put an end to the street crime. Now 47th Street is patrolled by police and most of the criminal activity happens inside the buildings, according to diamond merchants.
Ken Kahn owns the exchange 10 West, where one of surveillance units was installed. He thinks the new system will make a difference – particularly when compared to the unreliable security cameras inside his exchange, which he said often produce indecipherable footage.
“I can’t say something happens every day,” said Kahn. “But New York is still the center for the trade. There are always diamonds going in and diamonds going out.”
Within the first weeks after the new cameras were activated, a man inside an exchange managed to swipe a ring. The incident was captured on video.
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