Mark Harrison

About

Following a career in the police service, where he specialised in the development and delivery of partnerships and interventions to reduce crime and anti-social behaviour in the natural and historic environments of Kent, Mark was appointed as the Head of Heritage Crime Strategy for Historic England (formerly English Heritage).

In 2011, Mark was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London in recognition of his role in the development of community archaeological projects in Kent; and, the formulation of the Heritage Crime Initiative in partnership with the National Police Chiefs’ Council, Crown Prosecution Service and Historic England.

Mark is the Director of Timescapes Kent, a community archaeology group that undertakes research to develop the knowledge and understanding of the history of Whitstable and surrounding villages.

In 2017, Mark and his team were responsible for the discovery of a Tudor cargo vessel embedded on the inter-tidal zone at Tankerton Bay. The vessel is now protected as ‘scheduled monument’.

Mark is currently working on ‘The Forgotten Frontline Research Project’ which is exploring the impact that conflict has had on shaping the local landscape.

Mark is a Research Associate in the School of Law, Criminal Justice and Policing at Canterbury Christchurch University and the Centre for Rural Criminology at the University of New England, New South Wales, Australia.

Publications

Archaeologia Cantiana, vol. 132, pages 153-188, 2012

Kent’s Twentieth-Century Military and Civil Defences. Part 3 – Canterbury

Victor T.C. Smith and Peter Seary with contributions from Mark Harrison

Europae Archaeologiae Consilium, Occasional Paper 8, 2013.

Who cares? Perspectives on Public Awareness, Participation and Protection in Archaeological Heritage Management (2013), Policing the past, protecting the future. Tackling crime and anti-social behaviour in the historic environment of England, Lagerlöf, Agneta (Ed.)

The Palgrave Handbook on Art Crime (2019), The Development of the Heritage Crime Programme in England (Pages 731-749), Hufnagel, Saskia, Chappell, Duncan (Eds.);

Rural Crime Prevention: Theory, Tactics and Techniques, The development of a heritage crime prevention program, Routledge Studies in Rural Criminology (2020), Harkness, Alistair (Ed.)