Countering Illicit Traffic in Cultural Goods The Global Challenge of Protecting the World’s Heritage

Museum Security and Risk Assessment in France rules, ensure visitor safety and protect the collections. Integrated security systems play an increasingly important supporting role to surveillance teams, as does embedded protection – the triggering of local alarm systems upon trespassing that alert central monitoring. The recourse to fog prevention system installations, for instance, is increasingly adopted in museums, as well as radar detection.

Yet, human resources are the most crucial asset, insofar as surveillance officers directly interact with the public and access collection space. In addition, museum security experts provide regular assessments of security arrangements, ensuring that current technical standards are applied, and prescribe the most appropriate and cost-effective expert measures to meet the particular needs of individual museums. The protection of museum premises and collections is necessarily adjusted to each edifice. Interestingly, small remotely located museums often require more preliminary risk assessment work than major metropolitan museums.

There are patterns of risks that are defined according to a series of criteria. In the siterisk assessment, the first parameter considered is the nature of misdeeds: depending on the type of exhibition venue or museum, it may be assumed that the probability of theft is higher than degradation. For instance, fetishists and collectors are more likely to target museums dedicated to historical figures. The second criteria to determine and take into account are high-risk periods (daytime and nighttime risks, external or interior-related risks) insofar as the measures implemented differ whether the theft takes place during opening or closing hours. It all depends, however, on the sites, and the strategy chosen by each museum.

Threats to collections also vary. Criminal acts are most likely to occur during periods of high visitor affluence such as Heritage Day (Journées du patrimoine), the launch of spotlight exhibitions, major festivities nationwide such as the 14th of July which divert law enforcement officers’ attention from museums, etc. All in all, closing time and the quieter hours of night are delicate periods. A museum may well be deserted, or scarcely visited during the day, it remains under constant threat no less. In 2013, the mold of a coin was stolen from a museum in Normandy, which only received two visitors over the course of the day. Let us bear in mind that quiet periods may be favoured by thieves like Stéphane Breitweiser (sentenced in 2003). He was spurred into action during lunchtime (from 12:00 p.m to 2:00 p.m), encouraged by the aloofness of guards who tend to remain scrupulously discreet for fear of disturbing.

The third parameter is evaluating the objects at risk per se, so that the threat may be determined according to size, market value and surrounding events, as well as the rarity of the object. If, for instance, a temporary exhibition of ancient objects is taking place at the same time than a fair in the neighbouring country, then tighter security may be required for specific, extremely precious objects.

An analysis of theft prevention measures in France In France, the centralization of relevant information and actions against theft is a longstanding effort. Since four Monet and two Renoir paintings were stolen from the Musée Marmottant in November 1985, two French ministries – the Ministère de l’Intérieur and the Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication – have combined efforts to protect museums against theft. This led to a nationwide risk management programme (including fire prevention) that involves local and national police investigators, advisors, in theft and misdeed prevention, and more recently, firefighters at the Direction des Musées de France.

177