The Difference Between Greece and America

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Coin dealers' lobbyists in America may claim that the Greek arrests of culture criminals are a "diversion", nevertheless over here in Europe there are attempts to capture and punish those involved in criminal dealings in antiquities such as smugglers. In America such things are pretty rare (Cultural Heritage Lawyer Rick St. Hilaire,'Focusing on Cultural Heritage Criminal Investigations and Prosecutions', March 5, 2012):

Those who follow cultural property cases closely are aware that Homeland Security generally implements a seize and send policy with regard to cultural artifacts. While the agency boasts in its latest press statement and elsewhere that “[s]ince 2007, HSI [Homeland Security Investigations] has returned more than 2,500 artifacts to 23 countries …”it is silent about successful cultural property prosecutions. Such prosecutions are rare.

As St Hilaire notes, the ICE's website characterises the HSI "Cultural Property, Art and Antiquities Investigations Program" merely as: “Returning a nation’s looted cultural heritage or stolen artwork", the aim of which is that it "promotes goodwill with foreign governments and citizens, while significantly protecting the world’s cultural heritage and knowledge of past civilizations”. The whole emphasis of the US authorities here is on sending cultural objects to home countries, rather than developing cases for criminal prosecution. The political motives are all too transparent, by sending stuff back to victim nations, the USA plays the benign culturally-sensitive Uncle Sam, but by preventing the cases being dragged through the courts every time a culture crime is detected an attempt is being made to hide the scale in which US citizens are involved in such culture-crimes, which would not be so good for the image of the nation. St Hilaire suggests that:

Whatever issue prevents ICE from doing its job to investigate and prepare cases for presentation to a federal grand jury and subsequent criminal prosecution must be resolved. [...] ICE has talented investigators. But more must be done to bring the talents of these federal agents to the next level so that their cases serve to provide a meaningful deterrent to archaeological smuggling. Investigators must be permitted to conclude their cases by submitting them to receptive US Attorneys for review and possible indictment. Cases concluded through seizure, forfeiture, and repatriation alone do not have a similar impact on criminal activity.

It seems though that the US has a very selective approach to penalising culture crime of all types.

There is a link here to a video of a fourteen year old girl being tasered in Allentown, Pennsylvania when she objected to being arrested for walking in the middle of the road. I could link to another recent one of Officer Davis in Mesquite, TX pepper-spraying a squirrel which came too close (but I will not, as it is profoundly disturbing). Now let ICE show us the video of an antiquities smuggler being tasered in the US for resisting arrest.

Vignette: Enforcing a bit of culture on American streets.