BBC Look East films our rural engagement officers to find out about heritage crime in Essex

BBC Look East filmed our rural engagement officers in Colchester earlier this month, March 2024, to find out more about heritage crime.
Heritage crime harms the value of historic assets like churches, museums and monuments.
A new report says it's on the rise, with Historic England saying the thefts are robbing us of our collective history.
Reporter Alex Dunlop watched PC Callum Barber use a police drone to monitor the site of an ancient Roman temple near Colchester.
Callum told him: “I'm looking for any suspicious activity on the site. A good bird's eye view is really important to get a good view of it.”
Our Rural, Wildlife and Heritage Crime officer, PC Jed Raven, says heritage crime ‘breaks my heart’.
“It's disappointing to see,” he says.
“People may take history that we're never going to know was there in the first place. And that might be a key piece of evidence we need to identify how we lived back in the day.”
Jed and Alex visited a playground where thieves have dug up the ground, trying to find old Victorian bottles.
As Jed says: “Someone's rubbish back in the day - today, it’s someone's treasure.”
A new report by Historic England and the National Police Chiefs’ Council has mapped heritage and cultural property crime between February 2020 and February 2023.
It says thefts from art galleries, museums and stately homes are up and there’s been a surge in historic stone thefts, like paving slabs, walls and old fountains.
Heritage crime also encompasses the desecration of ancient monuments, such as vandalism or anti-social behaviour.
Such crimes will now be added to a new heritage crime database.
Mark Harrison, Historic England’s head of Heritage Crime Strategy, says: “The National Intelligence Model shows us where the active
and emerging threats are appearing.
“That means we can be very targeted in our approach and make sure that we put the resources
in the right place at the right time.”
All Essex Police’s rural engagement officers and several other officers across the force are qualified to investigate rural heritage crime,
Our #RuralEngagement and #CommunityPolicing teams work with farmers, partners and the wider community to understand what everyone can do to protect the historic environment.
And Essex was the first force in England in April 2021 to obtain a successful conviction under the 1996 Treasure Act.
Jed says: “We’re reaching out to the public and our partners to help spot this type of behaviour, too.
"The police can’t do this alone. We need the help of our communities and I know there’s a real energy of people out there, such as the Essex Horse Rider Volunteers, wanting to help out - not to tackle offenders but simply to report what they see that isn’t quite right.”
To report any crime or anti-social behaviour, visit www.essex.police.uk/ro. If it’s a crime in progress, ring 999.
Finders should report any finds defined as Treasure under the 1996 Treasure Act to their local finds liaison officer (FLO) who will report the find to the coroner on their behalf.
The Essex finds liaison officer is Lori Rogerson who can be contacted at [e-mail] or by ringing 01206 282390.
#HeritageCrime
#RuralCrime