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Date: April 30, 2024 Tue
Time: 12:50 am
Time: 12:50 am
Results for scrap metal
2 results foundAuthor: Association of Chief Police Officers Title: Heritage and Cultural Property Crime: National Policing Strategic Assessment Summary: What is Heritage and Cultural Property Crime? Heritage and cultural property crime can be defined as any offence involving damage or loss to the historic environment, including all offences involving cultural property. Alongside a local policing approach, coordinated by police Safer Neighbourhood Teams, chief police officers are now working directly with Government departments, partner law enforcement agencies and heritage sector professionals to tackle the longer term causes and effects. In this Heritage and Cultural Property Crime National Policing Strategic Assessment, the ACPO led Heritage and Cultural Property Crime Working Group (H&CPCWG) combine a wealth of expertise from members to highlight threats and opportunities to reduce the impact of crime to the historic environment and cultural property. Why be concerned? Amongst a number of other socio-economic and demographic factors, market forces drive acquisitive crime - national crime statistics bear this out. Fluctuations in exchange rates or global commodity prices can, for example, very quickly switch demand for lead, often from historic buildings, to demand for platinum from catalytic converters. Criminals intent on converting metal into cash do not see the damage, loss or heartache they cause to communities, they simply see a commodity that will provide a tax free income or their next drug fix. These thefts are not limited to metal from church roofs or listed buildings; coping stones, floor tiles, slate, intrinsically valuable artefacts and items of intricate metalwork from war memorials are all equally valuable to those operating in the moral vacuum of what we now know as heritage and cultural property crime. In addition to commodity price fluctuation, it is known that anniversaries of significant events in history drive demand for heritage assets. As we approach the centenary of the First World War, law enforcement and heritage sector professionals acknowledge the increasingly likely risk of the theft of memorabilia from museums and battlefields. The vast majority of crimes committed against the historic environment are not intricately planned offences committed by organised criminal gangs - they are committed by individuals or small groups following the path of least resistance to easy cash. A clear example of this can be seen in the theft of Henry Moore's 'Sundial' sculpture from the Henry Moore Foundation in Perry Green, Hertfordshire. In July 2012, it is doubtful that thieves realised the shiny garden ornament they were stealing from a house adjacent to a country lane was a nationally significant work of art worth $500,000 when they later sold it to a Cambridgeshire scrap metal dealer for $46.50. As of 1 October this year, the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013 will make offences of this nature less appealing to offenders, who are now unable to sell scrap metal for cash; however, police and other law enforcement professionals must not be complacent in failing to identify new markets available through technological advances in online dealing. The historic environment and cultural property is vulnerable because assets are often located in isolated, sometimes rural localities or are displayed for the public to enjoy. Police officers cannot patrol every neighbourhood for every hour of every day. The delivery of intelligent and efficient law enforcement activity in financially challenging times must, therefore, include a focus on 'Collective efficacy'; law enforcement professionals working with local people and partner agencies to protect heritage assets from theft and damage to the historic environment. In addition to crimes against the historic environment, offenders are also increasingly targeting cultural property, national treasures and works of art displayed in museums, libraries, archives and private collections. A recent and well publicised example of this type of offence is provided by Operation Shrewd, a national inquiry into the theft of rhino horn, jade and Chinese artefacts (predominantly from the early Ming and Qing Dynasties) from provincial museums and private collections in the UK and Europe. As a result of this investigation, it is now known that organised criminal groups have targeted museums providing access to antiquities and artefacts valued at several million pounds. Gone are the days when organised criminal gangs focused on criminal activity such as robbing banks and safety deposit boxes, or importing drugs to further their criminal enterprise. These criminals have now accessed a rich vein of significantly higher return, and with much lower associated risk, directing offences against 'softer' targets to feed the demand from Far Eastern and South East Asian markets for rhino horn and cultural property. Details: London: Association of Chief Police Officers, 2013. 32p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 23, 2016 at: http://www.museumsassociation.org/download?id=1038797 Year: 2013 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.museumsassociation.org/download?id=1038797 Shelf Number: 138791 Keywords: AntiquitiesArt TheftCultural PropertyHeritage CrimeMetal TheftOrganized CrimeProperty TheftScrap Metal |
Author: Ashby, Matthew Title: Using Crime Science for Understanding and Preventing Theft of Metal from the British Railway Networks Summary: Metal theft has emerged as a substantial crime problem, causing widespread disruption and damage in addition to the loss of metal itself, but has been the subject of little research. This thesis uses the paradigm of crime science to analyse the problem, focusing on thefts from the railway network in Great Britain. Two theoretical concepts are used: crime scripts and the routine-activities approach. Police-recorded crime and intelligence data are used to develop a crime script, which in turn is used to identify features of the problem a) analysis of which would potentially be useful to practitioners seeking to understand and prevent metal theft, and b) for which sufficient data are available to make analysis practical. Three such features are then analysed in more detail. First, spatial and temporal distributions of metal theft are analysed. Metal theft appears to differ from other types of acquisitive crime in ways potentially useful for prevention, for example in clustering outside (but close to) cities, and in exhibiting significant repeat victimisation over a longer period than found for other crimes. Second, the potential crime-prevention value of the market-reduction approach is analysed by testing for clusters of thefts close to the locations of scrap-metal dealers. Scrap-yard locations are found to be a significant predictor of local thefts, controlling for metal availability, area accessibility, and density of population and industry. Third, the involvement of organised crime groups (OCGs) in metal theft is tested. Due to the difficulty of defining and measuring organised crime, multiple approaches are used: all show OCG involvement to be rarer than official estimates previously suggested. The implications of these findings for practitioners are discussed. The thesis also considers the relevance of the results for the use of crime science and the analysis of OCGs Details: London: University College London, UCL Department of Security and Crime Science, 2016. 275p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1507833/1/thesis_final_screen.pdf Year: 2016 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1507833/1/thesis_final_screen.pdf Shelf Number: 147914 Keywords: Crime PreventionCrime ScienceMetal TheftProperty CrimeProperty TheftRailroadsScrap Metal |