Ask the Expert

This month’s expert focuses on how museum security can be streamlined to protect valuable assets

• By David Coughlin ,JD, CPP
• Jun 01, 2007

LOOKING to visit the official Hormel SPAM Museum? Hightail it to Austin, Minn. Or if you want to see an entire museum dedicated to different types of barbed wire try LaCrosse, Kan. Museums can house anything from valuable pieces of artwork, such as the Mona Lisa, to priceless, ancient artifacts like Egyptian mummies, or even a rare oddity such as a Pez dispenser that bears the face of Betsy Ross, the woman who sewed the first American flag.

Because museums must secure such unique items, the buildings require special security needs. Museum security is so different from that of other business establishments not only for its need to implement aesthetically-pleasing alarm and surveillance devices, but also because there may be thousands of visitors each day.

ISSUE: What are some of the unique security challenges museums face?
SOLUTION:In many museums, exhibits change and each display needs a different combination of security products and plans, so the security director needs to be flexible. Museum curators should look for a creative and dependable system integrator who can develop a security plan on short notice, as museum facilities are usually used for a wide variety of events—from lectures to videocasts, to sleepovers.

A good security integrator needs to be able to adapt existing security measures in order to fit the special needs of the museum. Some inventive integrators have taken sensors and altered the technology to create effective, but inconspicuous, alarm devices to fit behind paintings, in drawers or in other vulnerable areas of an exhibit.

Because so many patrons, employees and vendors pass through on any given day, museums usually have multiple points of entry. It is important to have surveillance cameras at each of the doors, especially in areas that contain expensive technology, like LCD or plasma screens, which even employees may try to take home.

More valuable than any of the artifacts are the young patrons. Cameras are particularly useful for museum security to protect the many children who attend field trips, overnight camps or visit with their parents. This protection extends from the wandering or lost child to thwarting predators.

In addition to the obvious liability involved with so many children, museums have similar situations as retail malls. In these environments, cameras can be used to prevent frivolous claims against the museum.

ISSUE: What areas of a museum require special attention from a security standpoint?
SOLUTION:It is critical for museums to heavily secure areas that keep cash on-hand such as the box office, restaurants and gift shops. These areas should be well-monitored, and it is a good idea to install panic buttons for employees to immediately summon help if necessary. Another area to watch closely is the admission booth, where tickets to enter the museum, an omni-theater or any other venue, are sold.

Oftentimes, guards do not monitor the security cameras during business hours and instead patrol the floor, where they may be more useful. However, with the appropriate technology, guards can be alerted on their pagers, cell phones and PDAs of any suspicious activity or alarms by the surveillance cameras or access control systems.

Implementing a card access system for employees rather than depending solely on a traditional key system is a good preventative theft measure. Access cards cannot be easily duplicated, as is the case when employees lose or try to copy their own key. Using biometric security in highly sensitive areas, like restoration and storage areas, is a good way to ensure that only those who belong in the area have access.

It is important for each museum to decide, depending on its exhibits and types of visitors, how their security budget will be divided between products and manpower and what the optimum combination is for that particular museum. Be sure to look for an innovative and reliable system integrator who can create a security plan that fits your museum’s needs.

READER QUESTION: We have installed cameras to monitor our front and rear entrances and our employee parking lot. Our company is located a short distance from a high school. Some of the students think it is fun to mess with the parking lot camera. After they spray painted the lens, we put it into an enclosure, which also has been spray painted several times. We mounted the camera higher—12 feet—but they still get to it. We thought about fencing, but it would require the loss of one or two needed parking spaces. What else can we do?
SOLUTION:There are a lot of unknowns in this scenario that may ultimately influence the solution. However, if we are assuming a standard analog video system with a DVR, the simplest and most economical answer would be to add an additional camera at each location that would cross-shoot with the existing camera. This way, the two cameras can view the entrances and parking lot while “seeing” each other, providing valuable coverage against vandalism. It's possible the vandalism could happen again, but you're more likely to get images of the vandals. If you move the cameras up, even higher than you have already done, you may end up creating images that are unusable for the intended purpose because you would be looking down on someone's head verses a good profile shot. Of course, this scenario also assumes that you have spare capacity on your existing DVR. A qualified security integrator should be able to assess a better mounting option and calculate the lens required given the desired focal point and the distance to the mounting location.

This article originally appeared in the issue of .