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This document is archival in nature and is intended Le présent document a une valeur archivistique et for those who wish to consult archival documents fait partie des documents d’archives rendus made available from the collection of Public Safety disponibles par Sécurité publique Canada à ceux Canada. qui souhaitent consulter ces documents issus de sa collection. Some of these documents are available in only one official language. Translation, to be provided Certains de ces documents ne sont disponibles by Public Safety Canada, is available upon que dans une langue officielle. Sécurité publique request. Canada fournira une traduction sur demande. ISSUE 3 Dec 2011 Inside this issue: Feature Editorial Feature Editorial: Does the Mafia Collect Art? Exploring Questions About Organised Art Crime............. 1 Does the Mafia Collect Art? Exploring Out and About.......... 3 Some Questions About Organised Art Crime CEPS 2011 Conference.......... 4 Prof. Duncan Chappell Conference in Focus ......... 6 Project Updates ........ 7 n contemporary Australian law enforcement circles, art crime is certainly not on the top of any priority list for attention. You will find no mention of it, for instance, Practitioners and Partners.......... 9 I in the Commonwealth Organised Crime Strategic Framework which in 2010-2011 CEPS Member Profiles.......... 10 views money laundering, amphetamine type stimulants and identity crime as prime targets. If they think of it at all, most police would probably consider art crime as a Research Reflections.......... 11 rather esoteric byway which they rarely traverse, while at the public level its profile is likely coloured by exposure to glamorous movie portrayals of urbane jewel thieves Special Report: Guilt Admissions & plundering the paintings and associated trappings of the homes of the wealthy. Interview Techniques in International Courts & Tribunals............... 12 The realities of art crime are in fact starkly different. Although there is no evidence Grants Update........ 13 that the Mafia and other denizens of the traditional world of organised crime either steal or collect art on a systematic basis, there is highly credible evidence Other News............ 13 that many aspects of art crime are both well organised and lucrative. Art crime can be broadly classified into three main categories:- theft, fraud and the looting of PhD Corner.......... 14 cultural property. Accurate and reliable estimates of the nature and dimensions of Selected Recent Publications........ 15 each of these categories are not currently available either nationally or globally, but one widely repeated assessment is that art crime in general is the third highest Media Bytes.......... 16 earning criminal trade worldwide after drugs and arms trafficking. Suspect though this assessment may be, we do know that each year millions of dollars’ worth of looted cultural objects from countries like China, Egypt, Greece and Italy find their CEPS Research Quarterly Editor way into the galleries and auction houses of cities like London, Paris and New York, Dr Yorick Smaal where they are eagerly bought by collectors and institutions. [email protected] Production Manager Victoria Hullena [email protected] We also know that with the astounding fraudulent practices. An ongoing police prices now being paid for works of art, investigation is said to be underway in both ancient and contemporary, there is New South Wales and Queensland into a thriving industry in the production of one such dealer who is believed to have fakes and forgeries which also find their swindled up to A$30 million from self- way into the art market place. Last, but managed super fund investors. not least, there is also an active demand for stolen art, whether to use as a Art crime investigations of any sort in form of ransom or to barter for drugs Australia are a definite rarity. In research and other illicit goods. Recently, for that I have conducted with colleagues at example, London’s famed Tate Gallery the University of Melbourne we have paid millions of pounds to recover two been able to locate only two successful paintings by the 19th Century English prosecutions of art criminals over the painter JMW Turner. The paintings, past three decades. Both of these cases valued at more than 24 million pound, involved the faking by non-indigenous were believed to have been stolen by individuals of works purporting to be Serbian gangsters who still remain at those of famous indigenous artists. large. In large part, it is suggested, this absence of investigations is because The Australian art market is obviously of a lack of awareness on the part of far smaller than its counterparts in law enforcement in this country of Europe and elsewhere, but it remains the nature and extent of art crime. No vulnerable to art crime as the above specialist investigative units exist to deal two examples illustrate. First, one of our with this type of crime either Federally most important and extensive forms of or in States and Territories. Thus even contemporary painting is produced by when investigations do take place, Aboriginal artists around the nation. A they are usually assigned to generalist recent Senate inquiry into the indigenous detectives with extensive case loads art industry estimated its annual value and little knowledge of the realities of as high as A$500 million, much of it a largely unregulated, diverse and often from overseas sales. Not surprisingly opaque art market place. A further such activity attracts criminals, and the stumbling block is that many victims problem of fakes and forgeries in the of art crime may be reluctant to report indigenous art market is a real one. an offence to the police, because to do Conservative estimates suggest that at so may involve the loss of a substantial least 10% of contemporary indigenous investment made in a fake or forgery. Duncan Chappell: Chair, art work is of dubious provenance, and Insurance companies may also prefer to International Advisory Board, the real figure could be much higher. deal quietly and privately with criminals CEPS; Adjunct Professor, Faculty Clearly, such levels of fakery represent a who steal a genuine and valuable work of Law, University of Sydney; substantial blemish upon an industry of of art to ensure its safe return. Co-editor (2011) Crime in the vital economic and cultural importance Art and Antiquities World, to Aboriginal communities across the The overall message is that the status Illegal Trafficking in Cultural country. quo should not be allowed to prevail. Property. Springer: New York. Australian law enforcement should A second example of an art crime risk is become much more extensively to be found in the thriving investment involved in art crime investigations, and art crime for art works represent market linked to the superannuation perhaps led by the establishment of an excellent and readily transportable industry for all forms of art. Many a small national unit in the Australian means of disposing of illicit profits. And self-managed super funds now see Crime Commission with ongoing finally, it is hoped that CEPS will be able art as a safer investment than stocks expertise and responsibilities akin to to conduct an international workshop and shares, opening the door for those already found in countries like early in 2012 to explore further how unscrupulous dealers to peddle fake Italy, the US and very recently Canada. best to stimulate law enforcement paintings and objects to frequently We should also look much more closely interest and involvement in combating naive purchasers, and to engage in other at the link between money laundering this form of organised crime. page2 Out & About Commissioner Atkinson visits CEPS By Insp. Jason Saunders EPS had the pleasure and honour Partnerships have underscored the Cof a visit from Commissioner Bob relationship between QPS and CEPS Atkinson for an informal meet and since the Centre’s inception in 2008. greet. Indeed, QPS was one of the early and significant partners of CEPS, and this Commissioner Atkinson has led the relationship continues today. Queensland Police Service (QPS) since November 2000. As Queensland’s During the morning tea, the second longest serving commissioner, Commissioner spoke to a large number he leads more than 15,000 employees, of CEPS staff and reflected on the many CEPS QLD Police Fellow, Inspector one of the larger police departments changes since he first joined QPS in Jason Saunders and Commissioner in the western world. During his the late 1960s. In those early years, Bob Atkinson appointment, the Commissioner there was little if any relationship programs at CEPS. The recent induction has introduced the Operational between academia and police. Fast of Deputy Commissioner Ian Stewart Performance Reviews (OPRs), which forward to 2011, QPS actively pursues into the Evidence-Based Policing Hall have contributed to an overall reduction research and evidence-based policing. of Fame (awarded by George Mason in crime of more than 20%. They have This commitment is evident with University, US), along with the earlier been a key component of his four ‘P’s – an Inspector serving as a full-time induction of Assistant Commissioner, Professionalism, Performance, People Police Fellow at the Centre and QPS’ Peter Martin, speaks to the emphasis and Partnerships.