It is incumbent upon us all to know the state as well as the federal laws regarding those activities, and to get action when it is needed. I had a site looted while I was excavating it (on a museum no less), called the Sheriff's office and got the old run-around until I told them twice that I wanted to file a report of theft and only then did they begin to take it seriously and only then after some hairy-eyeball body language on my part. It turns out that both were unaware of the VA laws on the subject. It also turns out that both were metal detectorists. The VA Dept of Criminal Justice Services had a guy whose job it was in the 90's to give talks to the law enforcement branches who were abysmally in the dark as to what constituted a "Time Crime" as it was phrased. That of course got eliminated in budget cuts.
The Archeological Soc. of VA inherited Kittiewan Plantation and just had a fellow arrested, and ultimately convicted of metal detecting and was sentenced. The hunt club folks first spotted him, and called the sheriff's department. We have to mind our own land and to organize local resources to watch over threatened sites and basically be concerned citizens who are willing to make things happen.
As for what I would have done in David Ingleman's case, assuming I knew the laws: the first artifact I saw dug up and put out of sight would have had a 911 call with theft in progress with the address, then I'd have hung up and waited for the police, explained the situation and demanded they do their duty and if there was resistance, threaten to go up the pipeline. And assuming the ubiquitous cellphone camera, documented the person in the act. It is not a good thing on one's personnel record to have dereliction of duty on it and while it's not exactly a high crime, it is a crime and they are duty bound to deal with it as the law dictates.
The Petersburg National Battlefield Park looter article in yesterday's Richmond Times-Dispatch mentioned that the fellow had a diary for each day. The article mentioned that after he had been arrested before for metal detecting on Petersburg property, he was back out there the same day he was arrested and the same day he was convicted. Those types of hard core idiots aren't going to be stopped except by jail time, but casual types such as Ingleman's appears to be can hopefully be hammered once and stopped.
Lyle Browning
On Mar 24, 2012, at 11:44 AM, Susan Walter wrote:
> In my city, parking tickets generate a very large revenue. I have never seen an archaeological monitor during city construction because it is exempt. That would cost the city money.
>
> Archaeology COSTS money.
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "David Ingleman" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Saturday, March 24, 2012 8:18 AM
> Subject: Diggers prompts new detecting, police ignorant of the law
>
>
>> Today I was walking my dog in a city park near my home. I saw a young man
>> using a new metal detector and digging small holes with a garden trowel. I
>> asked him what he was doing and he said he was looking for artifacts from
>> the 19th century homestead formerly located in that location. He said he
>> had no permit, and that one was not needed in that location. He said he had
>> been there before and only found a few old coins and some bullets. Then he
>> told me that he just started a couple of weeks ago after watching "Diggers".
>>
>> I didn't tell him that I am an archaeologist because I was trying to get as
>> much information from him as possible (and because he was looking
>> several hundred yards away from the house foundation clearly visible on the
>> surface). Just as I was about to say something, I saw a city cop writing
>> parking tickets. When I told the police man what I saw, he looked at me
>> like I was crazy. The cop said he didn't know of any ordinance against it,
>> but that he would look it up after he finished writing tickets (only about
>> 100 more cars to go!). When I got home, I looked it up and found that in
>> fact, metal detecting on city property without a permit is illegal. I then
>> called the police to make a formal report.
>>
>> I share this anecdote to highlight the problems we are all likely to face
>> in the wake of the Diggers shows and how we need to do more education both
>> of the public and the law enforcement officers. Even after receiving a
>> short course on antiquities law the cop I talked to placed enforcement of
>> that particular city ordinance somewhere below parking tickets.
>>
>> Still i'm not sure I handled the situation as well as I could have. What
>> would you have done?
>>
>> Best,
>>
>> David Ingleman
>
>
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