European police cooperation on art crime: A comparative overview

The academic literature in the fi eld of cross-border policing tends to concentrate exclusively on the high-level crimes — drug traffi cking, terrorism, and human trafficking — that are so often the focus of transnational police cooperation in criminal investigations. There are, however, many other types of transnational crime, including the often neglected art crime, which may represent the third most profi table criminal enterprise in the world, outranked only by drug and arms traffi cking. Drawing on existing literature and interviews with practitioners, this study provides a comparative overview of the policing efforts on art crime in a number of European Union (EU) member states and examines the relevant policy initiatives of the Council of the EU, Europol, and the European Police College. It also addresses existing practices of and obstacles to police cooperation in the fi eld of art crime in the EU. The study reveals that EU police cooperation in this fi eld occurs among a relatively small group of specialists and that—particularly given the general lack of political and public attention—the personal dedication of these specialists is an indispensable driver in this cooperation.