Heritage Watch launched across West Mercia

West Mercia Police have this week launched Heritage Watch, a scheme designed to protect our three county’s historical sites, monuments and artefacts from heritage crime.

Heritage Watch was launched at a special event held at Hindlip Hall, the headquarters of West Mercia Police since 1967. The building and estate itself dates back to 1575 and has had a rich and significant role to play in several key events that have shaped this country, such as the Gunpowder Plot, the Babington Plot which hoped to put a different monarch on the thrown and was then home to the Ministry of Works in World War Two which would have seen the Cabinet relocated to the hall in the event Germany invaded.

The event at Hindlip hall on Wednesday night was attended by the Chief Constable and a number of local and regional guests including police officers, staff from the new Heritage Watch team, archaeologists, conservations trusts, local societies, museums, historic societies and regional faith leaders. During the evening there was a tour of the estate, an exhibition of it’s history and presentations by key speakers.

Inspector David King who leads on Heritage crime said: “Heritage crime and the effects of it can be felt by the whole community and is any offence involving damage or loss to the historic environment and includes all offences involving cultural property.

“Whilst ‘cultural property’ is any movable property of great importance to cultural heritage, whether artistic, historical, archaeological or of scientific interest. Cultural items, once stolen or historic buildings once damaged may not ever be able to be replaced or fixed and it’s in all our interest, and that of future generations, that we work to preserve them and protect them from criminals.

“We know from our experience that much of the rural crime and heritage crime that is committed in our communities is part of much larger, more structured operations which is supported by well funded and well-practised organised crime gangs who exploit often young, impressionable and vulnerable people to commit their crimes which in turns leads to associated criminality. Our teams will be working to combat this and put our communities first, their property first and their history first.

“Heritage and Cultural Property crime is also closely linked to wildlife and rural crime the associated anti-social behaviour has an adverse impact on the natural environment. As a Force, we have invested into this area significantly and each local policing area has dedicated rural and business crime officers. We are now officially launching our Heritage Watch to supplement the good work already being done and build on national initiatives such as Operation Chronos that targets illegal metal detecting and Operation Crucible that tackles the theft of metal from heritage sites and buildings.”

Police and Crime Commissioner John Campion said: “In West Mercia, we are lucky to have a variety of historical assets that need to be preserved and protected.

“I welcome the launch of West Mercia Police’s Heritage Watch initiative which seeks to clamp down on damage or loss to historical sites, monuments and artefacts of cultural importance.

“As Police and Crime Commissioner, I will continue to support and invest in schemes that tackle crime to ensure West Mercia continues to be a safe place to live, work and visit.”

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Issued by AG, Corporate Communications