West Mercia Police’s Heritage Watch Scheme can help churches protect themselves against heritage crime.
Heritage Crime is defined as “Any offence involving damage or loss to the historic environment, including all such offences involving cultural property.” The historic environment is made up of the buildings, monuments, sites and landscapes that reflect our history.
Sadly Heritage Crime is on the increase, and we all have a part to play in preventing it. Heritage Watch schemes enable the public to report and share information on crime, suspicious behaviour and damage they observe at heritage assets in their community or while out and about.
This is particularly applicable to churches and unfortunately there have been incidents of criminal damage, theft and anti-social behaviour at churches within our area.
As part of the Heritage Watch Scheme, West Mercia Police will arrange for a member of the team to visit places including churches to offer crime prevention advice, and tailored information that can help to protect these sites. Those who sign also become part of their ‘We Don’t Buy Crime’ scheme.
As part of the scheme members are each given their own SmartWater pack, which contains a property marking solution that should be applied to valuable items. The solution is an invisible water-based liquid that contains a code only assigned to that unique SmartWater kit, making it easier to return items if stolen.
Along with the property marking solution, We Don’t Buy Crime and Heritage Watch signage will be displayed around the site boundary, warning potential criminals that the area is protected.
The first step in the process is to arrange for one of the team to carry out a site visit to complete a building risk assessment and have an in-depth chat about how they can help. The scheme is completely free of charge.
Bill Matthews is the Heritage Watch volunteer for North Worcestershire. If you would be interested in Bill visiting your church, he can be contacted at william.matthews@westmercia.police.uk or 07483 351442
