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Results for heritage crime (u.k.)

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Author: Bradley, David

Title: The Extent of Crime and Anti-social Behaviour Facing Designated Heritage Assets: Final Report

Summary: Heritage crime has been defined as any offence which harms the value of England's heritage assets and their settings to this and future generations. There has been growing concern at the risks of crime and anti-social behaviour faced by designated heritage assets, but the true extent of heritage crime had remained difficult to measure. This study collated and analysed data on damage from criminal behaviour to heritage assets in England. The report provides a review of the data collection procedures undertaken by the study to identify those that are most effective in building understanding of the scale and nature of heritage crime. The report then tries to answer a series of key questions about heritage crime. Finally there are some conclusions and selective recommendations aimed at improving future understanding of heritage crime. This study has trialled five main different data collection processes, aiming to find ‘what works’ for potential repeat research in future years:  stratified survey of heritage asset owners and guardians  web searches  e-survey of interested organisations and others  survey of local authorities in relation to unlawful development  collation of other data. These innovative heritage crime data collection activities yielded an unprecedented volume of information, which have been processed into two main data types:  responses from the stratified sample of heritage asset owners/guardians to a phone survey  collated database of individual heritage crimes. The primary value of the crime database is in its provision of extra, more qualitative, information beyond that obtainable from the stratified survey. The empirical material is drawn on to answer in turn the specific questions that the study has addressed. How prevalent is heritage crime in different types of area?  heritage assets located in central urban areas face the risks common to all buildings in such areas  heritage crime risk does not vary very consistently between broad areas of the country  in areas with few heritage assets (eg. many deprived areas), assets face higher heritage crime risk  in-depth research is needed to assess further the true level of unauthorised developments to assets What type of heritage crime is most prevalent?  criminal damage makes up the bulk of all heritage crime  the risk of criminal damage to heritage assets is substantially greater in more deprived areas  the frequency of metal theft also warrants separate consideration  metal theft is higher where historic assets are few, and in particular in the North What types of heritage asset are most affected by crime?  variation in overall heritage crime risk was slight between most heritage asset types  criminal damage is the main heritage crime risk for Listed Buildings and in Conservation Areas  damage by owners due to unauthorised changes is a non-trivial element of the total picture  metal theft is not a great risk to buildings in Conservation Areas that are not individually designated  Scheduled Monuments are different to other heritage assets, in being at rather low risk of metal theft and criminal damage, and higher risk of other crime such as unauthorised metal detecting What type of heritage crime most affects each type of heritage asset?  criminal damage is the main heritage crime risk for all use types of heritage assets except farms  religious buildings stand out with their higher risk of criminal damage and, most notably, metal theft  some of the evidence points to a higher risk for buildings that are unoccupied for more of the time  otherwise the risk ‘profile’ by heritage crime types and ASB does not vary greatly by building usage What can be said on the extent of different types of impact of heritage crime?  variation in risk of higher impact crime was slight between most heritage asset types  criminal damage is the main risk leading to impact on all asset types  arson is infrequent but can have huge monetary costs and damaging impacts on the fabric  metal theft can also have significant ‘secondary’ effects beyond the direct cost of replacement  evidence on BT Listed call boxes shows repair costs per incident varying little by area, but incidence varies in the ways seen before (higher in more urban, more deprived and less historic areas) What is known about links between socio-economic trends and recent trends in heritage crime?  the trend itself remains uncertain  little is confidently known of factors ‘driving’ heritage crime trends generally  it appears that metal theft is a growing problem, and this is linkable to wholesale metal price trends  overall acquisitive crime levels may have changed little, but a ‘diversion‘ to metal theft may also mean a ‘diversion’ towards heritage crime because of the amount of lead on historic roofs The final part of the report draws together observations and recommendations about ‘what worked’ in the data collection processes, and then sketches a small number of reflections on the data needed by those tackling heritage crime, and some further research which may assist them. Is it possible to instigate common practices in heritage crime data recording? The most directly relevant enhancement of official crime recording could be the introduction of a specific question as to whether a heritage asset was involved in the crime. Agreed terminology allows keyword searches to be efficient and to yield robust results, and a new terminology has been devised for the collated crimes database of this study. An ideal development would be for all future British Crime Surveys to include an indicator of the heritage status (or otherwise) of the location of each respondent. Are there implications from the study for broader issues related to heritage crime? The most fundamental question – which has not been addressed by this study – is whether “heritage crime” should be specifically recognised in law, rather than be covered either directly or in part by a large number of separate strands of legislation. Should there be continual or repeated heritage crime data collection? Several of the sources accessed in this study are, for various reasons, unlikely to produce statistical data from which robust estimates of national prevalence can be produced. Heritage Asset owners and guardians 6 could be re-surveyed on a regular basis, but other data gathering efforts would incur lower cost and could be a valuable way of keeping aware of emerging concern. There are also non-statistical reasons for further information gathering, where this is a focus of partnership building activities. Are there other opportunities for improving intelligence on heritage crime? Police Forces have the technical skills required to perform analysis on data they already have, but this would be helped if heritage asset owners and guardians were to consistently report incidents: this study found that 1 in 3 of the heritage crimes recalled in the survey had not been reported. Should there be other heritage crime research studies following up points raised here? Crimes on heritage assets in a marine environment will only be adequately researched by a separate dedicated study. Another type of heritage crime requiring a specific study would be the use of metal detectors for illegal activities detrimental to archaeology. The study also leads to the suggestion of research on the scale of unlawful developments to heritage assets by their owners or guardians. Finally there is the possibility of comparative research to assess whether the patterns in heritage crime found in this study are limited to England, although such studies would need to take into account the variations in legislation between different jurisdictions in the British Isles.

Details: Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK; Newcastle University, 2012. 43p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 19, 2012 at: http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/content/imported-docs/p-t/researchpaper.pdf

Year: 2012

Country: United Kingdom

URL: http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/content/imported-docs/p-t/researchpaper.pdf

Shelf Number: 125679

Keywords:
Antiquities
Antisocial Behavior
Art Crime
Cultural Property
Heritage Crime (U.K.)
Property Crimes