THE ART LOSS REGISTER

Contrary to the opinions of many, art theft doesn't just affect the rich and famous. Therefore it is bound to be part of the work of law enforcement bodies for a number of reasons:

1. Arts theft is most often a non-violent crime and therefore not top of the list for increased spending by police forces whose resources are already stretched.
2. The trade in stolen art is borderless, unlike law enforcement bodies whose jurisdiction is constrained.
3. The art trade is not allowed access to the law enforcement databases to carry out checks on objects on the arts market- which is becoming an increasingly important part of the fight against stolen works of art.
4. Items may be removed from law enforcement databases after a period of time, regardless of whether they are still missing.
5. The ability of countries to share information on stolen art is limited by political issues.
6. The level of expertise required to record and search for stolen pieces of art are not to be found in law enforcement agencies.

The Art Loss Register has devised services to law enforcement agencies that are:

• Free of charge;
• Complement the criminal investigations carried out by the police;
• Provided by multi-lingual art-historians;
• Co-ordinated by a former specialist police detective;
• International in scope;
• Provided confidentially;
• Integrated with data from theft victims, the insurance industry and the art trade;
• Focused on deterring art theft through intergrating with crime prevention initiatives and the provision of due diligence searches in the art trade.