On Wednesday, Laurence des Cars, the president and director of the Louvre Museum, spoke publicly for the first time about the recent heist of France’s crown jewels.
Robbers broke into the Parisian museum‘s Apollo Gallery on Sunday using a cherry picker and an angle grinder to steal nine pieces of jewelry worth an estimated $102 million in less than eight minutes.
The museum’s security department has weathered heavy scrutinized. Earlier this year, in June, the Louvre was forced to close when gallery attendants, ticket agents, and security officers walked out in protest over inadequate staffing and security concerns that resulted in “untenable” working conditions.
An official report written prior to the theft reportedly indicated that the Louvre’s security systems were deemed outdated and inadequate, noting a lack of equipment like CCTV, with upgrades repeatedly postponed and only installed in refurbished rooms in the museum.
Following the incident, museum director Laurence des Cars was booed in an address to staff.
Today, des Car told the French Senate in a hearing, “I wish to request the Ministry of the Interior to study whether the installation of a police station would be feasible,” according to the Agence France-Presse.
This request for a police presence comes as 200 full-time posts of nearly 2,000 total staff positions have been cut at the Louvre over the last 15 years.
In the Senate hearing, des Cars additionally assured that alarms functioned properly and went off during the heist. However, the one camera stationed outside of the Apollo Gallery “didn’t cover the balcony” that the thieves breached, Bloomberg reported.
Overall, des Cars noted, “there are a few perimeter cameras, but they are outdated.” Adding, “The installed base is very inadequate.”
