Louvre Museum Security 'Outdated and Inadequate' at Time of Heist

A Court of Accounts report written before Sunday's theft of crown jewels from the Louvre revealed the museum's security systems were outdated and inadequate [non-paywalled source]. The report noted a lack of basic CCTV equipment across multiple wings. Cameras had mainly been installed only when rooms were refurbished due to repeated postponements of scheduled modernization. In the Denon wing where the Apollo Gallery was targeted, a third of rooms had no CCTV cameras. Three-quarters of rooms in the Richelieu wing and nearly two-thirds in the Sully wing lacked cameras.

The thieves were caught on camera at one point but were masked and impossible to identify, according to Paris public prosecutor Laure Beccuau. The alarm system activated when thieves cut open display cases, but they threatened staff who left the area. Culture minister Rachida Dati confirmed new CCTV cameras would be installed. President Macron had earmarked $186.30 million to upgrade the Louvre's security systems under a renaissance plan launched in June.

Re:Louvre security

[PPH]

Probably from the time when that nearly perfect heist was pulled off.
After the burglary, the thief was apprehended a few blocks from the Louvre when his truck stalled. When asked by the police how he made such a mess of it, he replied,

"I did not have Monet to buy Degas to make the Van Gogh."

Well yeah

[abulafia]

I believe it is sort of definitional that the security was inadequate in this instance.

I'd seriously love to read the threat modeling of a top-tier museum. I've written these before for employers, but a software startup with a bank account and endpoints to protect is very different than warehousing irreplaceable artifacts and letting the unwashed masses near some of them.

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[timeOday]

What do you think - thicker display cases?

A lot of security goes towards making sure people can't sneak in, but these guys didn't play by those rules anyways.

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[belmolis]

Apparently staff responded to the alarm but left when threatened by the thieves. It would probably enhance security a lot to have armed guards on site to respond to alarms.

I know just the guy for the job

[ArchieBunker]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]

Re:

[slipped_bit]

With him on the job, it will be solved in the most hilarious way possible. Probably with a minor love side story, too.

couldn't be

[Revek]

Are you telling me the movies all showing these kickass laser grids is bullshit? Fetch me my fainting couch.

/s

New cameras?

[ItsJustAPseudonym]

The thieves were caught on camera at one point but were masked and impossible to identify, according to Paris public prosecutor Laure Beccuau. The alarm system activated when thieves cut open display cases, but they threatened staff who left the area.

I'm not seeing how more cameras would either see through the masks, or stop them from threatening employees.

The modern thief laughs at cameras.

[Fly Swatter]

Cameras are not security. A patrol with permission to use physical restraint or violence is security.

Re: The modern thief laughs at cameras.

[r0gue_]

This was my first thought when hearing the report over the weekend. Like the thieves threatening the staff with some type of circular cutting tool. I know itâ(TM)s Europe, but armed security staff for a place like that seems reasonable.

"Security"

[markdavis]

>"The report noted a lack of basic CCTV equipment across multiple wings. Cameras had mainly"

CCTV mentioned over and over and over again. IT DOESN'T MATTER. Video is not security. It will not prevent theft. And most of the time it will not lead to recovery either. It can be a useful tool, but it is reactionary at best (like calling the police so they can arrive 5 minutes after some event is over/done).

>"The thieves were caught on camera at one point but were masked and impossible to identify"

Right, kinda what I just said. And typical. That is not security.

>"The alarm system activated when thieves cut open display cases, but they threatened staff who left the area."

THAT is your "security". They broke through a window and no alarm. The case was then apparently easily cut open. Then that alarmed (so at least that worked). Then your unarmed staff "were threatened" (by presumably unarmed thieves) so they just left! Oh well.

That is what was protecting the "priceless" items that were stolen.

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[gweihir]

Looks like a really gross case of incompetence.

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[gweihir]

Found the violent primitive. Things in actual reality are not that simple or clear-cut.

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[bn-7bc]

Machine guns might be excessive, but a sidearm might be in place. But than again I'm a European so gun colture is a bit different over here. Maybe teargass and a gas mask could be an alternative to etting it rip with a machine gun.

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[registrations_suck]

Easily defeated with a gas mask.

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[misexistentialist]

If thieves took everything French taxpayers would probably save money, so the security was about right.

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[TwistedGreen]

I hope they at least doped the artifact with a radioactive tracer so it can be detected when leaving the country.

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[YuppieScum]

While that might prevent the loot leaving as baggage on a commercial flight or in a vehicle through a non-Schengen border crossing, it will do nothing if the thieves choose to depart with it via, for example, a private yacht from St. Tropez or a private jet out of La Môle...

You don't *need* high-tech security

[davidwr]

You DO need security. Well-paid, well-screened, and where appropriate well-armed guards will do the trick just fine.

They aren't cheap though.

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[registrations_suck]

A guard that isn't armed is just a bystander.

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[Mr. Barky]

The problem with guns in a museum... a single stray bullet in the wrong place could potentially cause more harm than what is being protected. (Oops, sorry about that hole in your Mona Lisa.) You don't want a shoot-out inside the museum! Even a bullet on-target might destroy what is being hauled away.

I don't disagree that there needs to be some armed guards, but you have to be really, really careful - and probably don't want everyone to have weapons. It is likely that there are such guards at the Louvre, the

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[Fly Swatter]

Funny how everyone assumes a security patrol will have a gun. There are modern devices that can disable someone without blowing holes in everything.

Arms need not be firearms

[davidwr]

A bully club, a taser, a pepper-spray gun, or even just a guard who is much bigger and stronger than any unarmed attacker* is better than an unarmed guard who is not strong enough to take down the attacker with brute strength or special skills.

* bonus if the guard knows how to fight well

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[TwistedGreen]

Exactly. In fact I'd say their security is too modern. Who needs cameras, lasers, alarms... In the old days you'd just have security guards with guns.

Yup

[pele]

I thought the whole of france was outdated and inadequate?

Theft

[fluffernutter]

It's hard to look down on the people that did this while there is a felon sitting as US president. Ignoring the law is ignoring the law whether you get prosecuted for it or not. Clearly this life is for people who take for themselves so I won't blame anyone who does it unless they steal from me.