Local News in Brief : Stolen Art Tracked

A state-of-the-art method of tracking stolen art was placed into operation by Los Angeles police Tuesday. The new computer system will list art items stolen in Los Angeles and also store bulletins and Teletypes from other communities where valuable objects have been taken.

“Say you had an ivory carving stolen five years ago, (in the past) it was impossible to go over 100,000 burglary reports a year to find (it),” said Detective Bill Martin, who heads the department’s art theft detail.

Art theft is an increasingly serious problem in Los Angeles, Martin said, with losses running “in the millions of dollars” a year. Last month alone, 15 works of art were stolen from collectors, galleries and businesses in the city, he said.