Heritocide? Defining and exploring heritage crime

The term 'heritage crime' has been recently brought into the spotlight by English Heritage-the organization tasked with protecting England's heritage assets-and is attracting an increasing amount of attention from individuals and organizations from a range of disciplines. Heritage crime includes recognized crime types (such as arson, criminal damage, theft, and graffiti) but arguably has a greater impact on the country's legacy for future generations because of the types of sites affected. This paper presents an initial examination of our understanding of heritage crime, and limitations to that knowledge. The paper contributes an initial typology to facilitate future interdisciplinary discussions of the problems facing heritage assets, and presents a possible route for expanding our ability to tackle this problem. Whilst this is an initial foray into the world of heritage crime, it is hoped that this paper will act as a stimulus for further discussion and action

Detecting heritage crime(s): What we know about illicit metal detecting in England and Wales

Abstract:Metal detecting is a popular hobby in England and Wales, and, since 1997, over 1.3 million finds have been recorded by the Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS), a scheme to encourage the voluntary recording of artifacts found by the public. The metal detector can be a useful archaeological tool when used lawfully and responsibly; however, it is also a tool that is used for illicit purposes by individuals and groups wishing to obtain artifacts from archaeological sites on which they have no permission to detect. Information on the number and nature of incidents of illicit metal detecting, however, is difficult to collate owing both to the nature of the crime and to the way it is recorded (or not) by law enforcement authorities. In this article, we examine the strengths and limitations of the available official and unofficial sources on illicit metal detecting in England and Wales and explore the potential they have to tell us about current trends in this form of heritage crime. The first unofficial source is a list of incidents reported to Historic England, which contains basic information on 276 incidents recorded between 2010 and 2017. The second source is the result of a survey of the PAS’s finds liaison officers regarding the extent to which they assisted law enforcement authorities for the years from 2015 to 2017. Both sources were then contrasted with a freedom of information request that was sent to all 49 police forces in the United Kingdom. Although there are some synergies between the unofficial and official sources, the lack of detail in any one dataset makes them of limited use in demonstrating trends in the macro- and micro-scales of time and place. Accordingly, many of the issues highlighted in this article could be resolved by devising a better system for police record keeping of metal detecting offences

‘the whole window just shatters into a million pieces and it doesn’t make any sound’: an examination of ‘affordance’ and situational cues for theft from a motor vehicle

© 2018 Macmillan Publishers Ltd., part of Springer Nature. Much offending, particularly acts of acquisitive crime, is influenced by whether there is a discernible opportunity to take advantage of. The success of this can be determined by the presence or absence of certain characteristics in the immediate environment and how they are interpreted to facilitate gain by an offender. This study explores some of these techniques or ‘affordances’ that have been adopted by individuals when seeking to commit Theft from a motor vehicle offences. This insight is gleaned through qualitative one-to-one interviews with participants who have received criminal convictions for this crime type. There is an evaluation of how offender awareness of affordances could lead to the vulnerability of certain contexts as subsequently, ideas of countermeasures against these offending opportunities are offered

'The rhino horn on display has been replaced by a replica': Museum security in Finland and England

Museums are an integral part of the cultural life of societies. As well as intangible value, many collections may also have considerable financial value, and pose a temptation to thieves. Furthermore, threats exist from accidents, natural disasters and vandalism, among many other risks that have to be built into museums security measures. In recent years, high profile art thefts from museums and even, regrettably, acts of terror, have drawn attention to the vulnerability of museum institutions as sites of crime and catastrophe. In particular, balancing visitor enjoyment and accessibility of the exhibits with security can be difficult for many. Despite awareness of these concerns, museums security remains to date under-represented in museological discourses, perhaps in part to its perceived pragmatic nature. Another reason may be the difficulty of discussing often confidential and sensitive information in a meaningful way. In this paper, based on research carried out in Finland and England, we aim to analyse some of the key issues for museums security, which while focussing on situations in Northern European settings, have relevance for museums globally. We set this discussion against the backdrop of ethical considerations and present our methodology for both gathering the data and discussing it in a way which is both sensitive to confidentiality issues but still of use to the wider security, museums and cultural heritage sectors

Enriching the university experience through volunteering: a pilot project

This article details the first year of a collaborative effort between a campus-based university and its local Victim Support scheme. The key innovative component was that student volunteers were trained to provide support to peers who experienced crime. Not a formal evaluation, this article outlines how the work appeared beneficial to the university, its students and Victim Support. The first two benefited through improved on-campus service to victimized students and to those who were trained and worked as volunteers. Victim Support benefited from increased numbers of volunteers and consequently improved services. Some implementation difficulties are also described. This study provides a platform for further efforts and their more formal evaluation

Identifying sites at risk from illicit metal detecting: from CRAVED to HOPPER

© 2018 Louise Grove, Adam Daubney and Alasdair Booth. Published with license by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group Archaeological sites are at risk from acquisitive crime: this paper focuses in particular on illicit metal detecting. The effects of theft in this context are not merely financial, but have devastating impact on our knowledge and understanding of the site. Even where items are later recovered, we lose the vital clues about the precise context of an object. We therefore need to reduce the risk of theft occurring in the first place. This paper draws on case studies from England and presents a new methodology to assess which archaeological sites may be at risk from illicit metal detecting: ‘HOPPER’ identifies the characteristics of sites likely to be targeted by offenders looking for antiquities. In brief: History (a history of finds at the site); Open (the site has physical public access, and/or is documented in the public domain); Protection (protected status can act as a beacon for offenders); Publicity (site is known about or receiving new attention); Evasion (there are known ways to escape apprehension); and Repeat victimisation (The site has been a target before). The impact of HOPPER will be its use in the field to develop a pragmatic risk assessment applicable both in a local and international context

Fool’s gold? A critical assessment of sources of data on heritage crime

Purpose To explore critically various sources of data available on heritage crime, and consider how these may be utilised and improved. Design/methodology/approach Primarily a scoping review of the current heritage crime data climate, embedding examples from a range of existing and potential information sources. It highlights opportunities to improve data resources. Findings A lack of consistency in reporting and recording practices means there is little meaningful evidence about heritage crime trends and patterns. This needs to change in order to develop and evaluate appropriate strategies to reduce the problem of heritage crime nationally and internationally. Research limitations/implications It is hoped that by urging improvement of data resources in the heritage crime sector will inspire a greater number of researchers to analyse and address key problems within heritage crime. Practical implications This paper encourages the development of new and improved data collection methods to foster effective assessment of existing heritage crime reduction schemes and better support victims of heritage crime. Social implications Increasing availability and accessibility of high quality data on heritage crime would allow for developing better protections and resource allocation for vulnerable heritage. Originality/value This paper has drawn together, for the first time, evidence of the existing state of affairs of data availability within heritage crime. It is a position paper which encourages the development of improved recording and reporting practices both formally and informally across heritage and criminal justice sectors in order to support further research and understanding of the heritage crime problem

Preventing repeat victimization: a systematic review

In any given year, most crimes occur against targets that have already been victimized. The crime prevention strategy deriving from this knowledge is that targeting repeat victimization provides a means of allocating crime prevention resources in an efficient and informed manner. This report presents the findings of a systematic review of 31 studies that evaluate efforts to prevent repeat victimization. Most of the evaluations focus on preventing residential burglary, but commercial burglary, domestic violence, and sexual victimization are also covered. The main conclusion is that the evidence shows that repeat victimization can be prevented and crime can be reduced. Over all the evaluations, crimes decreased by one-sixth in the prevention condition compared with the control condition. The decreases were greatest (up to one-fifth) for programmes that were designed to prevent repeat burglaries (residential and commercial). There were fewer evaluations of programmes designed to prevent repeat sexual victimization, but these did not seem to be effective in general. There are indications about what factors increase the success of prevention efforts. Appropriately tailored and implemented situational crime prevention measures, such as target hardening and neighbourhood watch, appear to be the most effective. Advice to victims, and education of victims, are less effective. They are often not prevention measures themselves and do not necessarily lead to the adoption of such measures. The effectiveness of these crime prevention measures increased as the degree of implementation increased. There were many problems of implementation, including poor tailoring of interventions to crime problems, difficulty of recruiting, training and retaining staff, breakdown in communications, data problems, and resistance to tactics by potential recipients or implementers

Non-invasive detection and chemical mapping of trace metal residues on the skin

Residual traces of the metals copper and lead on an individual's skin may be elucidated by reaction of rubeanic acid with a gelatine lift taken from the target area in question, yielding intensely coloured reaction products. This non-invasive technique has been shown to offer promise in chemically mapping the distribution of the minute metal residues across an individual's hand deposited through touching metal items, a technique with potential forensic significance

Book review - Unleashed: the phenomena of status dogs and weapon dogs by Simon Harding

Book review of: Unleashed: The phenomena of status dogs and weapon dogs by Simon Harding. Bristol: Policy Press, ISBN 978144731620