Art Theft Essay

Of the m any crimes that atomic number 18 present in this twenty-four hours and age, nonp atomic number 18il that non al sensation vandalizes the property, besides as well as historical background is that of dodgeistic creation stealing. A crime that has taken forth the sanctity of churches as well as many other ghostlike and historical sites. Thefts have ranged from WWII (World War II) to the times of the Holocaust. Of the items that were taken from the churches, mementos were items of great priority. These items non only had great grade to the churches they were stolen from, but a great value to relic collectors. Most of the items taking during these times were either sold or taild in underground storage. Most of these items that were place in these orphic places were neer to be seen again. From the times of these so called relic hunters to now, art thievery has reach something that has taken some extreme changes. It has evolved from crime that started with mino r relic thefts to something that has become a military personnelwide crime in need of divulge prevention.see to a greater extentrecount essay pt3 wile theft is a crime that has been on the rise for the last half of this century. According to equity enforcement wrap upicials, art theft now ranks second only to drugs as the realnesss most lucrative illegal activity. (Journal of Commerce) Whether bought, created, or stolen, art has become something that is of great demand. subterfuge theft has flourished as never before. Just c be up with the number of stolen objects and their total value is a big-time guessing game. (Dudar) This is a problem that not only faces us as art protesters and collectors, but museums and auction houses as well. Everyone possessing a piece of artwork is at find of art theft. This artwork doesnt have to be anything out of the quotidian to be a target. Along with famous paintings, sculptures, and other types of artwork, many unnoticeable or unrecogniz ed pieces of artwork atomic number 18 world stolen to a fault. Most thefts reckon to be the work of thieves without serious art education. Along with the good stuff, they atomic number 18 apt to sweep up junk those sappy gift-shop paintings of kids with enormous eyes, for example, which no serious collector would covet. (Lowenthal) On the other hand some of these thefts are existence done by some of the best in the business. round thieves have turned out to be professionals who, following fashion, switched from robbing video stores to burgling art. approximately are actually specialists in vehicle thievery they make off with a truck and so discover that the freight includes some saleablepictures. A few are insiders with easy access doormen, night watchmen, butlers, at times even a curator satisfying a longing to aver art he or she tummyt afford. (Lowenthal)With the demand of art increasing, museums and auction houses want to have the best of what there is to offer on d isplay. Placing the best on display causes more of a risk of theft to take place. This is just one of the many come ins that these places are faced with. The issue facing tribute managers and owners of museums and galleries is this Works of art are meant to be seen by the public or potential purchasers. Visitors expect to be allowed to scrutinize the objects on display. Thus, the museums assets are immediately susceptible to theft or damage, whether accidental or deliberate. (Burrows, p.34)Therefore a type of protective covering must be in place to prevent this from snuff iting. How should this security system designed? In designing museum security, I suggest a three-step approach (1) List what to protect. (2) take what is in all likelihood to happen to it. (3) make out action to counter the threat. (Burrows, p.34)This step seems obvious, save is all too often neglected. Careful cataloging when goods arrive not only helps with future amends claims but also greatly eases on going checks and any later disputes as to when damage occurred. In fact, more loss may occur through accidental damage during the setup of displays than through theft. In addition, damage may not be noticed for some time.Invariably, displays are set up hastily and cataloging is bypassed unduly abbreviated. Its important not only to list holdings but also to assess them qualitatively. (Burrows, p. 34, 37)Consider what is likely to happen to itWhen one is considering the likely possibilities of what might happen to the pieces of artwork, they must regard what is likely to happen to the assets, imagination and historical searching are needed. (Burrows, p.37) In these searches one should examine what tendencies were shown in the previous thefts. They should also th sign of other possibilities that could happen.Consider theft, vandalism, publicity-seeking, fire, and water damage. Of course, many incidents are not publicly reported. Museum management fears confounded sponsorship, increa ses in insurance costs, and nervousness among potential lender and exhibitors. Unfortunately, those fears are well-founded. They are part of the hidden cost of crime. Reducing the likelihood of those ill cause is part of what one earns by implementingsecurity. (Burrows, p.37)Consider action to counter the threatCounter-action is the master(prenominal) ingredient in successfully preventing art theft. In this step one must examine how to property staff the place where artwork is world stored and what type of security systems will best suit this place. Staffing is undoubtedly one of the crosses that security has to bear. In Boston, police were allowed access to a museum without external verification. They then robbed the museum. (Burrows, p.37) Because of the opportunity of theft coming from security guards or from the inside, others measures must be taken too. Mindful of that problem, many galleries include in their standard operate procedures instructions to telephone a police st ation before officers are admitted. Nevertheless, security staff invariably let them in unchecked. (Burrows, p.37)The strictness of security in museums and auction houses are greatly proportional to their respected role. The more thought of a museum or auction house is or the more famous one is, the better type of security they have. These types of well- cognize places ever have security-training classs that are ongoing. Many of them have security workshops that their employees are inevitable to attend. Flaws in this so-called human security are also something that is feared. some(prenominal) museum or gallery worth its salt has an ongoing training program that teaches security personnel how to react to various events. Yet horror stories abound, such(prenominal) as the one about a security officer who, sightedness a vandal holding up a lighter to a flammable display piece, took no action. (Burrows, p.37) Because of these flaws, many high-tech security systems are being install ed.Galleries and museums desperately need a dependable radio transmission system, with a range of integrated piezo and motion sensors, manufactured by a reliable company and installed by knowledgeable technicians. The overall combination seems to be too stringent a demand for the present structure A number of new tagging systems have some on the market. The trick is to place a tag (and theyre cheap) on a valuable item and place receivers by doorways or restricted-flow areas. The receivers can then be coupled to alarms. Also, sensors can be placed at perimeter doors and coupled to automatic magnetised locks.Video motion-sensing that has user-definable detection fields and is directly coupled to automatic alphanumerical paging to security officers isapproaching the ultimate means of detection. (Burrows, p.38)With these systems and techniques being utilize by the museums and auction houses, the strain of handling art theft is being lifted from major research foundations. These fou ndations have been around for many historic period tracking down art thieves and lacking(p) pieces of art. Two major researches of these foundations are the transnational Foundation for Art Research (IFAR) and the Art Loss Register.International Foundation for Art Research (IFAR)The International Foundation for Art Research, known to cops and collectors far and wide as IFAR IFAR maintains an invaluable repository of data on missing goods ranging from masterworks to mind-boggling kitsch. Their computers, which house a clever program for storing and decision images of stolen valuables, now show more than 60,000 items carried away from homes and museums and other sites around the world in recent years For 25 years these issues have diligent IFAR, a modestly funded, nonprofit enterprise IFAR keeps track of as untold as possible and often plays a role in acquire a purloined picture.IFAR not only uses its computers when it comes to lost art. The foundation also publishes its o wn newsletter. IFAReports, the foundations newsletter about thefts and recoveries is also a main part of the foundations success. (Dudar) The use of this newsletter gives the public information about missing artwork. IFAReports also provides news of recoveries, but it is the vanished pieces that use up the most ink and paper. (Dudar) Although originally founded as a consumer protection agency against art forgery, IFAR has emerged into a main art theft prevention foundation.With a development emphasis on due diligence when buying and selling art, the Art Loss Register of London is becoming an effective tool to encounter fraud and recover lost and stolen pieces, users and providers of this service contend. (Attrino) The art loss story started in 1991 as a solution by the art and the insurance worlds to do something about the level of art theft, trade in stolen art and the lack of recoveries. The register created a database containing lists of stolen and missing art and antiques. (Sc hillingford) This database allows law enforcements to be able to view artthat has been reported either stolen or missing. This not only aids law enforcement, but museums, auction houses, and buyer/collectors.The Art Loss Register database holds numerous is losses looted from public and head-to-head collections between 1933 and 1945 and additional missing artworks for free. (Schillingford)Art theft is a crime on the rise, but with the use of these foundations and the methods that are being used by museum security managers it is slowing declining. Art theft is something that because of system and human flaws will never be successfully prevented. It can however, be something that is so hard to do that a lack of interest will remain. The only way to successfully prevent art theft is to not own any at all.BibliographyWorks CitedAttrino, Tony. Insurers Get Help In Tracking Stolen Art. National UnderwriterProperty & Casualty-Risk & Benefits Management. Aug. 17, 1998. Vol. 102.N. 33. Pg. 4 5 (1).Burrows, Robin. Artful Protection from Down Under. Museum Security. Feb. 1992.Pg. 34, 37-8.Dudar, Helen. Making a dent in the trafficking of stolen art. Smithsonian. Sept. 1995.Vol. 26. N. 6. Pg. 34 (7).Journal of Commerce. Dec. 11, 1990.