As far as reporting thefts go my  own views are:

-   Always report the theft to the local police
    (even if it seems minor to you it may turn 
     out to be part of a larger pattern. It also
     helps to avoid charges that you tried to
     cover up the theft if news leaks to the press
     at a later stage).
     Depending on the value/type of object
     encourage your local police to involve
     more specialised law enforcement agencies.
     
-   Check your insurance policy, if you want to make
    a claim you will have to report the theft to them.  
    Even if you don't want to claim you may find that 
    your policy will be invalidated if you don't report
    all thefts & break-ins to the insurance company.     

-  If you have a local network of museums it is     
   sensible to let them know.  If someone has stolen
   a 17th century snuff box from your museum they 
   may well be off to the museum in the next town 
   to steal their's.  (Next time they might be warning 
   you).

-  If the object is uniquely identifiable and important to 
   your collections then it is worth advertising it as
   stolen.  There are specialist databases such as
   The Art Loss Register & Invaluable (formerly Trace).
   But an advert in the local antiques trade profession
   newspaper may be very effective.  Try to get your
   local police or insurer to let you use them as a 
   contact point and wording such as "stolen from a 
   museum in xxx county on yyyy-mm-dd". Some
   insurance companies will pay for this advertising
   for you.  
    
-  In the UK it is good practice to inform the Museums
   Security Advisor at Resource (our Government
   Museums, Libraries and Archives service).  This
   allows him to look for trends, warn other museums
   and press for extra resources from Police 
   departments if necessary.

I hope this helps.



Trevor Reynolds
Collections Registrar, English Heritage
Room G01, 23 Savile Row, London, W1S 2ET, UK
tel: +44 (0)20 7973 3482 fax: +44 (0)20 7973 3001 (GTN  3503 3482) 

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