FLOs on Heritage Crime

There seems to be some muddled thinking about heritage crime in Portable Antiquities circles. An article in the Independent about lead roofing theft from Medieval churches prompted this tweet from J.D. Jobswerth the FLO for Barssetshire:

J.D. Jobswerth ‏@jdjobswo 6 godz.6 godzin temu
Good article, but falls short of making the distinction between those lead thieves who report so the parishoners know its gone, and those who don't. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/nighthawks-tracking-the-criminals-plundering-ancient-sites-with-the-latest-equipment-a6789921.html …

Well, that example is fictional, but at least two Portable Antiquities Scheme Finds Liaison Officers  think and say something perfectly analogous:

Julie Cassidy podał/a dalej

Adam Daubney ‏@ajdaubney 6 godzin temu Good article, but falls short of making the distinction between legal detectorists who report, and those who don't. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/nighthawks-tracking-the-criminals-plundering-ancient-sites-with-the-latest-equipment-a6789921.html …

These people are paid from the public purse to "outreach" to the public on portable antiquities matters. This sort of fluff-bunny claptrap is NOT giving the public who pay for it any substantive information about the full range of issues surrounding portable antiquities, their extraction from the archaeological record for personal entertainment and profit. It is merely a glib and unreflexive repetition of the "we are not nighthawks" pseudo-justification of the artefact hunters themselves.

Perhaps, as we enter 2016, the nineteenth year of PAS operation, we might see the PAS start to fulfil the function they are paid to do with a little more dedication to giving a more balanced and less dumbdown view.

Don't hold you breath. Neither Mr Daubney, not Ms Cassidy will even notice comments are being made on their social media "outreach", here or anywhere else, my FOI earlier this year showed that FLOs do not follow any kind of heritage debate. Neither of course need anyone anticipate that they will be capable of providing any kind of response. 2016: Plus ça change.

UPDATE 8th August 2016
Well, some time between then and now, Mr Daubney decided to block me from his twitter account so I cannot see what further things he is writing - or not writing. There is PAS transparency and confidence in the possibilities of social media for public debate for you. Oh, and of course Julie Cassidy too. Not that she ever had very much to say.