What is it?
Heritage crime is any offence which harms the value of heritage assets and their settings. Heritage assets are sites which are considered to have value to the heritage of England, are important to our history and give a social and economic benefit to our communities.
What do you need to do?
Reduce heritage crime with simple crime prevention measures. Land owners, rural businesses and members of the public should be vigilant reporting any suspicious activity to the police noting vehicle details and descriptions.
How can you prevent this?
• Identify the heritage assets in your area, be vigilant and aware of the threat owners and managers of heritage assets should assess risk using the
Historic England heritage asset risk assessment tool
www.historicengland.org.uk
• Raise awareness and extend sense of community ownership
• Carry out appropriate prevention with good management and measures such as restricting access, tactical planting, CCTV and lighting.
• Heritage asset owners and managers should liaise with the Devon & Cornwall Police Rural Affairs Team
Be proactive:
Anyone able to offer information relating to heritage crime is asked to email 101@dc.police.uk, call 101 or Call crimestoppers anonymously 0800 783 0137.
Join Devon & Cornwall Alert, Watch schemes and local social media groups so that you can find out what is happening in your area.
The Devon and Cornwall police rural affairs team have produced a calendar which highlights rural issues throughout the year to focus problem solving activity for police, partners and public with key messages and prevention activity.
