**ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESOURCE PROTECTION TRAINING**

Richard C. Waldbauer

**Introduction**

Since the passage of the Archaeological Resources Protection Act in 1979
(ARPA), and particularly since the 1984 publication of the uniform
regulations which implement ARPA, federal agencies have dramatically
improved their programs to protect archaeological resources. These
improvements have included better monitoring of sites, better reporting
on incidents of looting and vandalism (see Knoll this volume), and
increased prosecutions of looters and vandals.

Nevertheless, it is the experience of federal agencies that enforcement
of the law only in a judicial way is unlikely to yield effective,
long-term results. Admittedly, uneven and sporadic judicial actions
against violators of ARPA may contribute to the problems in perceiving
the law as an effective deterrent. But law enforcement program managers
also have determined that any effective deterrent must be based upon a
general understanding of what archaeological resources are and why they
should be protected. ARPA itself provides for this educational aspect of
law enforcement when it requires actions \"to foster and improve the
communication, cooperation, and exchange of information between private
individuals,\...federal authorities,\...professional archaeologists and
associations of professional archaeologists.\" ARPA also recognizes that
these kinds of actions must have appropriate, coordinated objectives so
that the results will contribute most effectively to site protection.
The Secretary of the Interior is specifically charged with providing
coordination.

Late in 1988, the educational component of ARPA received further
emphasis via an amendment to the law (Public Law 100-588) that directed
federal land managers to establish programs \"\...to increase public
awareness of the significance of the archaeological resources located on
public lands and Indian lands and the need to protect such resources.\"
A second amendment (Public Law 100-555) will ensure that education about
archaeological resources protection is based upon sound information by
requiring \"documents for the reporting of suspected violations of
(ARPA) and establish when and how those documents are to be completed by
officers, employees, and agents of their respective agencies.\"

There are two important education objectives which must be accomplished
for archaeological resource protection to be effective. First, education
is needed for law enforcement and cultural resources personnel to
properly carry out the criminal and civil penalty responsibilities of
archaeological resource protection laws. Without efficient law
enforcement, the deterrent effect of statutory sanctions such as prison
sentences and fines is diminished. Second, the range of training
opportunities must have appropriate, coordinated objectives, especially
since education is needed to improve public awareness of archaeological
resources as places and things which must be protected. Efficient
enforcement of archaeological resource protection laws is hampered or
given low priority when the public does not perceive protection of
archaeological resources as socially important.

**Education for Law Enforcement and Cultural Resources Operations**

Education for law enforcement and cultural resources personnel has
become increasingly effective since 1984 as training objectives have
been better defined. To enforce protection laws, individuals must know
what the law is, what is being protected, what the separate duties of
law enforcement and cultural resources management are, and how
individuals in these two functions need to interact with one another to
insure that their efforts yield effective, efficient results.

**Levels of Training for Law Enforcement and Cultural Resources
Personnel**

***Field Operations***

Currently there are three levels of training opportunities available.
The most intensive level is training which applies to field operations.
Several agencies offer these in varying formats, often in cooperation
with another agency whose primary responsibility is law enforcement.

The most intensive course at this level has been offered through the
Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) in Glynco, GA, since
1983. As part of the Department of the Treasury, FLETC principally
serves 63 federal organizations to teach common areas of law enforcement
skills to police and investigative personnel. They also provide support
services for participating organizations to conduct advanced training
for their own law enforcement personnel. The National Park Service, U.S.
Park Police, Fish and Wildlife Service, and Forest Service each have
offices at FLETC which provide onsite representation.

FLETC\'s \"Archeological Resources Protection Training Program\" is
conducted by the Enforcement Techniques Division. A senior instructor
manages the program and maintains the highly regarded curriculum
content. It is scheduled in two or more regional locations each year as
a 40-hour course, with an archaeologist, a judicial expert, and a law
enforcement officer as instructors. It has consistently provided the
most up‑to‑date skills required to identify, investigate, and prosecute
archaeological resource crime.

There is particular emphasis in the course on the different roles of law
enforcement officers and cultural resource specialists, and the course
is noted for its powerful demonstration of the need for these people to
interact while still preserving their separate duties and professional
functions. The course concludes with a vivid practical exercise in
casework. Since 1988, the frequency with which the course is offered has
increased dramatically as several federal agencies have requested
special \"export\" versions to be held in specific regions. Since its
inception, this training has been offered nearly 25 times to more than
750 participants.

Federal agencies with law enforcement staff conduct periodic
\"refresher\" courses, typically on a regional basis and as a way to
address regional needs. Agents not only upgrade their personal law
enforcement qualifications through such courses, but also gain new
skills. Archaeological protection is frequently a topic during refresher
courses, and it is essential that course coordinators have access to
current teaching materials and skilled archaeology instructors.

Organizations other than federal agencies also are concerned with
effective training in field operations and federal archaeological
resources protection. Often, state agencies or local law enforcement
jurisdictions conduct casework involving federal lands, on behalf of
federal agencies, or in cooperation with federal agents. Indian tribal
police are concerned to protect archaeological resources on Indian
lands. These organizations develop their own coursework, participate in
federal agency courses, or seek technical assistance for training
materials from federal agencies.

***Program-oriented Training***

The second level is program-oriented. That is, the educational
objectives of these courses are designed to provide introductory
guidance or strategic overviews of archaeological resource protection so
that managers gain an understanding of what their programs should
contain, who should operate them, and how results can be measured.
Agency cultural resources management courses usually contain a component
on site protection to familiarize managers with agency policy and
procedures in this regard.

However, in 1988 for the first time, training at this level was offered
on a nationwide basis. This was a 12-hour course, which is now titled,
\"Overview of Archeological Resource Protection Programs,\" and
sponsored by the National Park Service Archeological Assistance and
Employee Development Divisions. It was made possible as part of a
special appropriation by a concerned Congress, which moved later in that
year to amend ARPA. The course was held nine times, tuition-free, for
classes of up to 50 people. In 1989, it was held 13 times, and one of
those courses coincided with the Society for American Archaeology annual
meeting in Atlanta, GA. By the end of 1990, the course had been offered
33 times and reached nearly 1,000 participants.

***Self-teaching and Generalized Materials***

The third level is geared for individual instruction, particularly
through self-teaching or self-paced materials. This kind of training
emphasizes brief, concise topics and skills for wide-ranging audiences
that include seasonal agency employees as well as the general public.
The materials tend to be widely available upon request. Videotapes and
films, such as the well-known \"Thieves of Time,\" produced by the US
Forest Service, are designed to provide introductory instruction.

A new videotape titled, \"Assault on Time\", has been produced by the
Media Services Division of FLETC in cooperation with the Fish and
Wildlife Service, National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management,
Forest Service, and Department of Defense. It provides the most current
introductory information in videotape format, skillfully illustrating
the wide variety of archaeological resources and poignantly portraying
how important they are to people.

The Soil Conservation Service has produced a set of self-paced training
materials to train its employees in the agency\'s cultural resources
program. There are eight modules, which are an excellent combination of
slides, cassette tapes, and instructional manuals.

**Coordinated Objectives for Education**

The second component of archaeological resources protection training
concerns appropriate, coordinated objectives, especially when the
efforts are directed at improving public awareness. Development of
training objectives for public awareness have not kept pace with those
for field enforcement. Too often, failure to define objectives,
especially the audiences to be reached and purposes for educating them,
results in minimal impact and confusion among the participants.
Nevertheless, there are several successful programs which are geared to
educating the general public about archaeological resources and
fostering the awareness that site protection is socially important.
These are discussed in detail elsewhere in this volume.

It is important to discuss public awareness from a training objectives
standpoint because to be effective, the public must be able to perceive
a consistent policy, conducted within a coordinated program and based
upon complementary materials.

***Policy and Coordination***

Training courses must be marketed, and staff must understand that
training will help them carry out their responsibilities and agency
missions. As federal agency archaeology programs have improved, there
has been clearer policy guidance about the importance of archaeological
resources protection.

On March 20, 1990, Secretary of the Interior Manuel Lujan announced a
national strategy for archaeology which included improved interagency
efforts to fight looting (Lujan 1990). One of the ways for this policy
to be disseminated is through interagency coordination activities such
as the Law Enforcement Group, facilitated by the National Park Service,
Archeological Assistance Division. Its members consist of federal agency
chief law enforcement officers or their representatives and meets
regularly to address archaeological protection issues, exchange
information on agency activities and training, and gain insight on
professional approaches. Results of these meetings then are distributed
throughout the respective agencies, particularly regarding training
available to agency personnel.

Coordination of training is accomplished also between the National Park
Service and Federal Law Enforcement Training Center. As the agencies
which conduct the two most widely offered courses, field enforcement
skills training (FLETC) and program management training (NPS), it is
critical that these education programs not conflict, in dates or
locations as well as content. As a result of improved coordination in
marketing and organization, the respective courses began to reach about
four times more participants by late 1989.

These kinds of accomplishments contribute to policy dissemination
throughout agencies because initiatives and prioritization of funding
and staffing commitments can be tied to specific activities with
foreseeable results. For example, the National Park Service determined
that field training of its law enforcement officers for archaeological
protection could be a major priority in FY 1991 given that the FLETC\'s
program would be widely available.

***Complementary Materials***

Policy and coordinated programs provide agency staff with a useful
organizational structure upon which to base education activities such as
public awareness. Instructional materials provide the means to conduct
those activities, particularly when seasonal or collateral duty
personnel must be trained and the basic message of archaeological
protection must be conveyed. To be effective, these materials must be
complementary and demonstrate the role of protection within the national
archaeological preservation program.

Production of complementary materials requires the kind of coordination
that takes place on a national level, as described above, as well as
regional coordination. Examples at the national level include the
archaeological protection bookmarks, designed by the Fish and Wildlife
Service in 1987 and printed as part of the \"Take Pride in America\"
campaign, an instructors\' handbook sponsored by seven federal agencies,
the FLETC videotape, \"Assault on Time\", and the \"Protecting the
Past\" book.

Regional coordination occurs in many ways, and one such example is the
Forest Service Region 6 task force on archaeological protection (Davis
1989:10). National Forests partook in the task force and cooperated to
produce a training videotape suitable for use throughout Region 6.
Another example is the laminated field guide distributed to officers
trained by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Portland District (Freed
1988:3). This handy pocket guide complements their brochure and poster,
\"Preserving Our Cultural Heritage,\" distributed to the public and
asking visitors to help protect cultural resources within Corps of
Engineers lands.

**Conclusion**

Training in archaeological resources protection must ensure that
programs achieve goals meaningful within the general concern for
archaeological preservation. While law enforcement activities themselves
require that effective instruction in archaeological resources crime,
laws and regulations, field operations, and casework is provided to law
enforcement and cultural resources personnel, there also must be
continued public awareness that destruction of archaeological resources
diminishes the nation\'s cultural heritage. When these two objectives
are achieved, the laws are an effective deterrent, and the public
benefit of archaeological preservation is realized.

**References Cited**

Davis, C. (1989) \"Archeological Protection Efforts: Forest Service.\"
[Federal Archeology REPORT]{.underline} 2(2):10.

Freed, R. (1988) \"Corps of Engineers Archeological Protection Program,
Portland District.\" [Federal Archeology REPORT]{.underline} 1(3):3.

Lujan, M. (1990) Memorandum; Secretary of the Interior to Under
Secretary, Solicitor, Assistant Secretaries, all Bureau Heads.
Department of the Interior, Office of the Secretary, March 20, 1990.