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Paris Police acknowledged major lapses in Louvre security on Wednesday – how this month’s broad daylight theft should turn national attention France Protects your treasures.
Paris Police Chief Patrice Faure told Senate lawmakers that outdated systems and slow-moving reforms have left vulnerabilities at the world’s most visited museum.
“The technical step up has not been taken,” he told lawmakers, adding that parts of the video networks are still analog, creating low-quality images that are slow to share in real time.
The long-promised improvement – a $93 million project that requires about 60 kilometers (37 miles) of new cabling – “will not be finished before 2029-2030,” he said.
Faure also revealed that the Louvre’s authorization to operate its security cameras had quietly expired in July and had not been renewed – a lapse in paperwork that some see as emblematic of widespread negligence when thieves broke into the window of the Apollo Gallery, cut boxes with power tools and made off with eight pieces. French When the tourists were inside, the crown jewels were ready within a few minutes.
“Officials arrived very quickly,” Faure said, but he said there were delays down the chain — from first identification, to museum security, to the emergency line, to police command.
Faure and his team said the first alert to police came not from the Louvre’s alarm, but from a cyclist outside, who dialed the emergency line after seeing helmeted men carrying baskets.
The custody of the suspects is coming to an end
Authorities say two suspects were arrested over the weekend, one of whom was stopped at Charles-de-Gaulle Airport as he was trying to leave France. Under French rules for organized theft, detention can last up to 96 hours; That limit expires late Wednesday, when prosecutors must charge suspects, release them, or ask a judge for an extension. louvre The value of the eight stolen pieces is approximately $102 million. No recovery has been confirmed.
The theft also exposed an insurance fraud: Authorities say the jewelry was not privately insured. The French state self-insures its national museums, as premiums are too high to cover priceless heritage – meaning the Louvre would receive no payment for losses. Like the cultural wound, the financial shock is also total.
Faure insisted on quick reform. He rejected the demand for a permanent police post inside the palace-museum, warning that it would set an impractical precedent and do nothing against the fast, mobile staff. “I strongly oppose it,” he said. “The issue is not about the guard standing at the door; it’s about speeding up the chain of warning.”
He urged lawmakers to authorize tools currently off-limits: AI-based anomaly detection and object tracking (not facial recognition) to flag suspicious activities and city cameras to detect scooters or gear in real time.
The October 19 robbery was quick and simple. In the morning rush, thieves would approach jewelry galleries near street-side windows, cut through the reinforced boxes, and disappear within minutes. Former bank robber David Desclos told the AP that the operation was textbook and that weaknesses in the gallery’s layout were clearly evident.
Museum and culture officials under pressure
Culture Minister Rachida Dati, under pressure, has remained on the defensive – denying the resignation of the Louvre’s director and insisting the alarms are working while admitting “security gaps were present”. He kept details to a minimum, citing the ongoing investigation.
The calculations at the museum are already under pressure. In June, the Louvre closed due to a spontaneous strike by staff, including security agents, due to unruly crowds, chronic staff shortages and “untenable” conditions. Unions say mass tourism and construction create pinch point blind spots, a vulnerability highlighted by thieves who swing a basket lift in the Seine-facing façade and gain access to the hall displaying the crown jewels.
Faure said police will now keep an eye on monitoring-permit deadlines at the institutions to prevent a repeat of the July lapse. But he stressed that major reform is disruptive and slow: dismantling and rebuilding key systems while the palace remains open, and updating the law so police can act on suspicious activity in real time – before a scooter disappears into Paris traffic and the diamonds are consigned to history.
For Desclos, the practical answer is insensitive: preserve the originals and display true replicas. Putting romance aside, he argues, the point is that real things survive.
Experts fear that the stolen pieces could already be broken up and the stones repurposed to erase their past – a possibility that adds urgency to France’s debate over how to protect what the world sees.