The Alliance to Reduce Crime against Heritage (ARCH) is a new voluntary national network which will take forward initiatives to tackle heritage crime and galvanise local action as part of the Heritage Crime Programme.
The overriding objective of the group is to reduce the amount of crime that causes damage to or interferes with the enjoyment of heritage assets in England.
Members of ARCH have a shared interest in preventing and seeing effective enforcement of heritage crime. Through conferences and training events, the group will be a means of discussing priorities, sharing information about heritage crime, carrying out training, highlighting best practice and making local contacts.
A conference for ARCH members will be held annually where experiences, ideas and priorities for tackling heritage crime can be shared.
Second ARCH Conference on Heritage Crime
The second conference organised by the Alliance to Reduce Crime against Heritage (ARCH) was held in London on 21 March 2012. Representatives from a wide range of organisations came together to discuss the problem of heritage crime, learn more about the Heritage Crime Programme and how they could tackle heritage crime in their areas by developing a partnership model.
The conference was attended by Heritage Minister John Penrose MP, Chief Constable Richard Crompton of Lincolnshire Police and lead for Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) on matters relating to Rural Issues and Wildlife and Heritage Crime and Hilarie McNae, a heritage champion and councillor of Cheshire West and Chester Council who has taken many innovative steps in her area to tackle the problem.
The conference was principally an opportunity to review research commissioned by English Heritage as to the size of heritage crime in England. A summary of the findings and the full research paper are available to download free of charge from this page.
How to join ARCH
Membership of the group is free and open to all organisations and groups that have an interest in preventing and enforcing heritage crime.
If you are interested in finding out more about the Heritage Crime Initiative, or becoming a member of ARCH please contact English Heritage's Customer Services Department.
Email: customers@english-heritage.org.uk
Other ARCH conferences
ARCH conferences coming up..
Policing the Past: Protecting the future:
- 26th April - Manchester
- 17th May - Birmingham
- 14th June - Portsmouth
- 13th September - Cambridge
- 27th September - Sheffield
- 11th October - London
Please see the HELM website for more details
