Corporate headquarters have to be alert to the value of works of art on their walls, and protect them accordingly, says an art risk consultant.
Corporate headquarters have to be alert to the value of works of art on their walls, and protect them accordingly, says an art risk consultant. Graham Saltmarsh, of the Charles Hill Partnership, told Professional Security: ‘Criminals follow the market, and art and architecture is such a buoyant market-place.’ As ever more people and companies invest in art and historic houses, so are criminals looking at art and architectural thefts and frauds, said Mr Saltmarsh, who before retiring from the Metropolitan Police was head of the organised crime branch at the National Criminal Intelligence Service.
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Works of art – not just paintings, but sculpture, clocks, even pieces of garden furniture – are at risk of theft. One of the men who offers security advice to many of Britain’s stately homes talks about art theft and fraud and more to Mark Rowe.
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Graham Saltmarsh points behind me to the fireplace in the room – an upstairs meeting place in a top central London hotel. It’s one of those huge, ornate fireplaces that ought to have characters out of Brideshead Revisited standing in front of it. It could be worth £250,000, Graham says. No wonder criminals are stealing art and antiques from Britain’s historic houses.
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Graham Saltmarsh and Charles Hill are art risk consultants. Last year the former senior Metropolitan Police men formed the Charles Hill Partnership. Soon the Historic Houses Association appointed the partnership as security advisers: ‘The HHA pay us an annual retainer and we reduce our fees accordingly and will give a house, the grounds, whatever, a complete security review.’ HHA members range from the nation’s stately homes like Longleat in Wiltshire to Kentish farmhouses. Historic houses are not necessarily homes; they could be churches, museums or galleries, schools; all places with priceless things pinned to the wall or standing on the mantlepiece. Graham discounts what you could call the James Bond theory of art crime – that there’s a Mr Big stroking a black cat at a desert island hideout surrounded by priceless stolen art. ‘It’s a lovely thought and life would be easier if it was like that.’ Alas, life is not like that: ‘The majority of cases are of art-napping. When a valuable picture is stolen, it is virtually unsellable.’ Hence most stolen artworks are offered back years later, even to the owners or loss adjusters. Graham describes a sensitive topic to grapple with: ‘It’s a very grey area – trying to recover a work of art for clients, but do it in such a way as not to give the thief an incentive.’ Arguably the most important recent recovery of a painting in the public domain is the Scream by Munch, stolen from the National Gallery of Norway in Oslo in 1994. While still serving in the Met, Charles Hill posed as a representative of the Getty Museum. He told the thieves that he would negotiate the return of the painting, and pay a ransom, in exchange for a loan of the Scream to Los Angeles. They believed him. Oslo got their masterpiece back; the thieves did not get any money. Charles Hill is a security-conscious man who does not like his photograph taken. He has gone on record as saying of one episode: ‘Coming home with the imprint of a double-barrelled shotgun on my neck did upset my wife somewhat.’
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The two men, both in their mid-50s, have long known each other. (When we each had a coffee, Graham put sweeteners in his cup and out of habit reached to put sweeteners in my cup, as if it was Charles’.) Charles Hill, after serving in the Vietnam War in the 82nd Airborne – he has dual US-UK nationality – graduated in history in the States. His 21-year career in the Met saw him head the Art and Antiques Squad at New Scotland Yard until its demise in 1996. He retired from the Met as a Detective Chief Inspector in 1997 and was Risk Manager at AXA (Nordstern) Art Services until 2000. Graham Saltmarsh, on retiring as a senior Scotland Yard detective, became a Senior Consultant at Control Risks Group before setting up with Charles Hill. For those people who like to note little things, Graham is carrying a copy of the Financial Times and a motorcycle magazine (he is a keen motorcyclist).
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Does Graham have to be an art expert, then’ No. What he knows about art, he says, you can put on a fag packet. (That said, he has an A-level in art history, and an MA in police and criminal justice studies). Yes, he adds, he does have an interest in art history. Graham quotes John Stewardson, another former senior Met officer, now Senior Manager of Security Operations at British Airways, and interviewed by Una Riley in our February edition. John Stewardson does not need to know how to fly a 747 to carry out airline security. Graham adds: ‘The one thing the police does equip you with, certainly in Scotland Yard; you never know what is going to come across your desk. One minute you might be investigating valuable items such as a painting, but next week might be a murder or a rape, maybe in another country.’ Similarly in the military, Graham says, you gain a repetoire of skills and knowledge, an adaptability. Added to that, you have to know about your specialism – in the field of art, where antiquities and pictures are being stolen from, where are the stolen goods likely to end up, who is likely to handle the goods.
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Is art theft another field, like (to name recent topics featured in Professional Security) theft of lorries and theft from retailers, where business victims find the police too hard-pressed to investigate wide-ranging, time-intensive cases, forcing business to turn to the private security industry for protection and results’ I quote Charles Hill: ‘There is an increasing demand for private investigations of art crime because the police have largely withdrawn from this kind of work. Except for Italy’s Carabinieri [military police] art squad, police forces simply do not have the time, money, or will to launch detailed investigations of highly specialised crimes such as art theft or fraud. Scotland Yard have reduced their activities in this field to such an extent as to make them virtually meaningless. The onus is now on the private sector to police itself, working where appropriate with law enforcement officers.’ Graham agrees, though he adds that Italy has masses of treasures and a problem of the haemorrhaging of those treasures. Graham says (though he is not knocking the police): ‘Fraud and IT investigators have long bemoaned the fact that they don’t feel they are getting the support from the police. And certainly it’s the case with us, with art and antiquities, but more importantly than us, it’s our clients. We have noticed two things in particular. Very few police forces have a dedicated arts and antiques squad. Most forces at least have one person who has a knowledge of the antiques market in the area and those who were involved in the theft of antiques and art and who the dodgy dealers were.’ Sadly, Graham adds, other priorities and Home Office targets and the like mean that it is difficult for chief officers to have the luxury of specialist squads any more. ‘We all know cases are screened out. Where the victims are heavily insured or seem wealthy, there seems to be a lack of desire to assist them and it is increasingly left to insurers and consultants like ourselve to package the thing up. The analogy for me is the shoplifter in Woolworths. Woolworths provide detectives, parcel up the evidence and more or less call the police to process the offender and even then sign the charge sheet and if matters come to trial the likelihood is that Woolworths would have to pick up costs. We are now parcelling up very serious crimes in the same way as Woolworths’ shoplifters, with a ribbon on it, and it is only when you present that case to the police you stand any chance of getting a prosecution for the court.’ Such is Graham’s general perception; he goes on to give an example. ‘We have just dealt with two clients in the Home Counties who have lost or had damaged precious garden statuary. One a huge cistern which came from Roman times, and the other a medieval sundial, belonging to a quite separate client. In both cases the objects were completely and utterly priceless but in both cases the respective police forces screened them out and didn’t even attend the scene, because they designated them garden ornaments.’ The clients and the insurers were frustrated: ‘We have to take up the cudgels with the police, and say, ‘look, this has got to be investigated properly’. In those cases, the best you can hope for is a joint investigation. We have the staying power, if you like, to bring a case to a satisfactory conclusion, because the police just don’t have the time. It isn’t that I am criticising the police, but it’s the emphasis on priorities and performance and other things. It has taken the police away from dealing with the public, and I mean all the public. And we are quite sad about it. It is a paradox – we are sad, but at the same time the inability of the police to investigate is forming a major part of our business. It’s privatisation by default.’
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Graham and Charles’ security work for their HHA and other clients goes beyond crime prevention, and efforts to recover works of art. Graham reports that pre- and post-employment screening is a growing aspect of their consultancy. When you think that so much of theft and fraud is internal, Graham says: ‘It’s really quite surprising, the recruitment mistakes that are made. We do try and protect our clients from making recruitment mistakes. Someone who might have a job as a footman in a stately home might have access to incredible treasures.’ Staff vetting, with the permission of those being vetted, and keeping to the Data Protection Act includes checking of CVs, and credit card checks, to build up a picture of a job candidate’s lifestyle. ‘We only deal with publicly available material from a variety of sources and databases, and obviously until things change we ourselves cannot access the Police National Computer.’ Checking of lifestyle is important, Graham stresses: ‘After two or three years, any of us can go off the rails for a number of reasons.’ If someone develops a medical problem in your employment as a handyman and chauffeur, a problem that impairs their ability to drive safely, do you want them driving your children to school’ Thus checks ought not to stop when someone fills a post, however capably. Graham adds: ‘People can inveigle themselves into a family or a stately home or whatever, and then get themselves promoted, and we are a great believer in post-employment screening as well. They may have developed a drink or a drug habit, they might have got themselves into debt, so we really do try and emphasise to our clients that just because you pre-screened somebody prior to employment, it doesn’t mean everything is going to be rosy in the garden.’ That said, if an employee’s drink or gambling problem, or financial troubles are uncovered, and it is handled delicately with the client, in the end you can do the employee a favour – ‘and at times end up with even an enhanced loyalty because you have come to their rescue, when they felt they couldn’t tell anybody. So there are human issues, which we find beneficial to all concerned.’
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Security reviews of historic houses may find the CCTV system is old, and that its managers are not aware of their obligations under the Data Protection Act. Many trustees of houses have limited budgets, and the cost of maintaining many stately homes is prohibitive. Yet, Graham adds, often it comes as a pleasant surprise to the historic house owners or trustees that the security review recommends replacing analogue CCTV with a digital system, using the existing platform, and monitoring on personal computers (PCs). Such a system can be linked to other building systems, such as fire protection, and floodlights. By linking the CCTV to passive infra-red (PIR) motion detectors, ‘you don’t need huge amounts of tapes any more, you can link it all to existing PCs which kick in when the PIRs are active.’ Part of the consultancy work involves bringing people up to date with the latest security products, which ar not only cost-effective but far more efficient, Graham says. ‘In the same way we encourage our clients to property-mark all their items of value, even microdot them, or use products such as Smartwater. There’s a variety of products out there. We even encourage clients to have everything digitally photographed and on CD-Rom; at least one set of images properly archived, to be kept off-site. We have a tremendous problem with architectural theft, with statuary, fireplaces, and things that ten years ago people would not have dreamed that they would lose in a burglary.’
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How security-aware does Graham find historic house clients’ It depends. ‘We get quite a bit of stable-door-shutting, obviously. They do have unique problems. Sheer size and vulnerability means that we have to put in some very wide-ranging CCTV. We are very keen on project management CCTV systems which can be accessed off-site, so if the land agent or the administrator of a houses live two or three miles away, with a digital system images can be on a PC, the security officer can speak to the senior management at any time of day or night and a considered and valid decision can be made on what action to take.’
Much of the security review is taken up with perimeter protection – ‘and you can easily be dealing with a site which is comparable to a nuclear power station: 20, 30, miles circumference is nothing for these major estates.’ Hence the consultants are looking at barriers at entry points covered by CCTV that can recognise number plates. An historic house might have several working farms, or parts of farms, inside the estate, besides contractors coming and going onto the site. That might call for a system that allows a security officer to access details of vehicles, to enable the officer to decide promptly whether a vehicle should be allowed access. When recommending a security system, the consultants have to bear in mind geography; many historic houses are in isolated parts of the country, and the consultants have to consider the response times of police – and other emergency services. A security review has to include maps and plans of the estate for the local emergency services, so that in an emergency they know which part of the estate to head for, what are the rendezvous points, and who are the contacts. Graham says: ‘When we do a security review we are looking at routes around the estate, how quickly offenders can make a getaway, the A, B roads, closeness to a motorway.’ If the consultants can help the police – quickly identify what is stolen, where it might be heading – that helps the client. Such a review is not purely for security; if an ambulance has to be called, particularly if a historic house is open to the public, the ambulance service needs to know where casualties can be collected. ‘Many of these things have already been considered by managers of stately homes, but these things are up for constant review.’ If a historic house is a care home, there could be an accidental fire – a resident having a cigarette, say.
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Does the remoteness rule out manned guarding for historic houses, then’ Not necessarily; there are opportunities. ‘I have recently done a survey of a house, I won’t name the house, where they had really good in-house uniformed security. A core group of people. But they also run a contract with a local security firm to complement that with mobile patrols and a dog. The core responsibility remained with the house but there was a very good mix, which was absolutely seamless. And they [the contract security firm] were a small firm, they valued the contract, and I really applauded it.’
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Who are security officers and CCTV cameras guarding against’ Not an international art thief Mr Big, Graham says. ‘In our experience a lot of art theft in remote country houses is done by travellers. We do have a problem with travellers – not all travellers. And quite often, particularly pictures are stolen and stored in extremely awful circumstances and damaged, so there is a double worry: not only the fact that we have had a picture cut out of a frame, perhaps, and lost, but even if it is offered back, what condition are we going to get it back in”
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The consultants also offer crisis management, and advice on insurance. As for crisis management, theft of anything can be a trauma, Graham says: ‘Theft of a national treasure can be disastrous. And it is important for the media and the emergency services and the insurers are all brought together, virtually in the same way as a kidnap of a human being, because we find that early co-ordination of all the aspects of a tragic theft works best when there is an outside consultant, as in kidnap cases. The police are there, with their priorities; the insurers are there, protecting their interests. And you have got the victim in the middle of it and all the media in the grounds, baying for a story, and just as in a kidnap it is often beneficial for all concerned that there is somebody independent of everybody there who can recognise the varying and often competing priorities and co-ordinate things , but at the end of the day is there representing the client’s best interests.’ In such cases, the Charles Hill Partnership can bring in specialits crisis managers.
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As for insurance coverage, the consultants point out that as for physical security there are some movel and innovative insurance products on the market. Such products may offer help in minimising risk in the first place; and, if loss or damage does happen, a product might include kidnap and extortion expertise.
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Graham says that London, still the world’s leading art market, attracts antiquities and looted art, one way or another. ‘We are increasingly being asked to prevent banks and institutions being defrauded by being presented with art as collateral for medium and short-trm loans, often by lawyers who may or may not be collusive in the scam, or turning a blind eye. It takes good old detective work to find out where they came from. In such work we often co-ordinate with the Art Loss Register [www.artloss.com]. the central database for lost and stolen art.’ Graham sees an increasing market in investment in fine art. Ever more people, including younger people, having made money are hanging works of art in their homes: ‘So there is an increasing need for quit sophisticated security and advice for a far wider range of people than hitherto. Art is no longer locked away in museums and stately homes. Therefore we see this as very much a growth area for the security industry as a whole. Increasingly we find our clients are relying more on the private sector than the public sector for their personal and property protection.’ Hence, what you could call ‘Quality Street’ gangs of burglars, even kidnappers. We have to take care, Graham warns; the higher the insurance being paid out, the more attention given to such ‘Quality Street’ crime, the more incentive criminals might have to carry out such crimes.
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Graham sees the need to keep up to date with developments in the fast-moving electronic security market. Hoe does he do it’ For one thing, the product developers keep up with Graham, if his post is anything to go by. He attends exhibitions, and has a dialogue with some companies. For example, take broad-band products. ATT Research are working on a telephone which has a PC in it. With a product like that, if a site manager rings you, the security manager, when you are asleep, you pick up the ‘phone, can view the CCTV footage, and do not need a PC beside your bed. ‘And we learn from our clients – it’s a two-way thing. Our own clients with their own particular needs have small, local firms developing products.’ Graham gives the instance of a system involving pagers, whereby if an alarm is triggered, a range of pagers go off: ‘It isn’t just the big boys who can innovate.’
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Movies like Mission: Impossible and The Thomas Crowne Affair glamourise art crime. The reality is that the thieves, knowing that they cannot sell a Van Gogh or a Renoir on the open market, may wait years before trying to get some money, often from the victim. Misquoting Mark Twain, works of art by Cezanne, Leonardo da Vinci or whoever are always going to be valuable because they are not going to be making any more of them. (Forgeries are another matter.) As the UK authorities are unable to devote time and effort to prevent and detect art crime, as Graham says, the private security industry is stepping in.
