Louvre Boss Wants A Police Station In The Museum After Heist

The director of the Louvre said she will ask France’s interior ministry for a police station to be set up inside the museum, days after thieves stole jewels worth €88 million ($102 million) in an audacious daytime heist.

Laurence des Cars, speaking at a French senate hearing on Wednesday, conceded that video surveillance of the streets and areas around the Louvre “is our weakness.”

Outside of the Apollon Gallery there’s only one camera and it “didn’t cover the balcony” the perpetrators used to break into the museum and steal eight jewels, she said.

Overall, “there are a few perimeter cameras, but they are outdated,” des Cars said. “The installed base is very inadequate.”

The Louvre director said she had offered to resign in the wake of the robbery, but that France’s Culture Minister Rachida Dati turned her offer down.