There's an Art to Solving These Cases

Detective Don Hrycyk picks up a call from a Santa Monica Art Museum employee who is reporting a theft.

"What was taken?" he asks.

"Well," she says, pausing, "it was a rubber chicken."

"Was it created by an artist?"

"No," the woman says. "It was a standard rubber chicken."

"Oh," Hrycyk responds, a bit confused. "How was it stolen?"

"It was lying in the coffin."

"In the coffin?"

"Yes, the coffin."

It turned out the rubber chicken and the coffin were part of a contemporary art exhibit at the museum. And the employee had called Hrycyk because he is the Los Angeles Police Department's art cop, the only full-time art cop in the nation.

While other LAPD detectives are chasing murderers, car thieves and muggers, Hrycyk ponders one of western civilization's great philosophical questions: What is art?

When three Picassos were stolen from a San Pedro warehouse two months ago, it was obvious this was a case for Hrycyk. But when a piece of valuable furniture was stolen recently, Hrycyk had to turn down the case because he determined the piece was not an antique.

The rubber chicken caper was a judgment call for Hrycyk. Yes, Hrycyk determined, the rubber chicken was art--or at least a key component of art. After all, it was in a museum. But he decided not to investigate because the value of the chicken was so low.

"I asked the woman at the museum if the artist could just pick up another rubber chicken," said Hrycyk, who often is contacted by victims from throughout Southern California. "She was adamant that he couldn't. Apparently this rubber chicken had a texture and size and hue that was extremely important to the artist. But so many cases are coming in, I have to draw the line somewhere."

Hrycyk has investigated the thefts of tapestries, Tibetan statues, antique porcelain pieces and paintings by Matisse and Degas. He has tracked cases involving a Renoir forgery and the theft of Henry Miller's manuscripts with his drawings in the margins.

Hrycyk (pronounced her-is-ik) also is responsible for investigating stolen collectibles. He was called in two years ago after the tap shoes worn by the Scarecrow in the "The Wizard of Oz" and Marilyn Monroe's original film contracts were stolen from a UCLA library. Hrycyk solved the case after a tipster informed him that the suspect was storing the items in his car.