Some thoughts regarding museum security

Perhaps some museums are doing better, but it still seems an awful lot are not making good use of available security technology (e.g., the Leonardo stolen in the UK, the Saliere in Vienna -- or just search the site under "art theft"). Human error is, of course, still a major consideration, but there still far too many galleries that lack any sort of modern antitheft measures -- this at a time when surveillance cameras are proliferating just about everywhere else (FuturePundit has a good recent post on this). Last time I looked -- several months back -- there was a good range of affordable packages enabling one to hook up multiple video feeds to a PC and automatically monitor for specified motion patterns. And by "affordable", I mean for a homeowner or small business; for a museum of any merit, "absurdly cheap" is more like it. But until the insurance companies put on the pressure, I expect things will not change very quickly (with even less pressure on institutions that are government-run and indemnified).

A couple of further thoughts:
Why not outsource the task of watching video feeds from surveillance cameras? The usual complaint is that attention drifts as boredom sets in, but that frequent shift changes require too much staff. Watch centers abroad would not only allow higher staffing, but by taking advantage of time differences would also allow watchers to work at peak alertness. Though outsourcing of call centers has sometimes proved problematical, language and cultural barriers aren't much of an obstacle to recognizing vandalism, theft, etc.

And here's a low-tech device for museums that even I could build right now, but which I've never heard of: a camera flash detector. Aside from their cumulative effects on paintings and other light-sensitive objects, flashes are a real annoyance to other museumgoers. In many galleries, however, guards have to cover more than one room, so surreptitious flash photography is easy to get away with (even if the results usually stink due to reflection). If a flash triggered an alarm, that might have considerable deterrent value -- similar to the shock detectors and proximity alarms already used here and there to keep visitors from getting too up close and personal to the artworks.

Posted by David on April 15, 2004 1:53 PM