Louvre Collection Stolen: A Major Security Flaw Exposed

On October 19 local time, multiple items were stolen from the Louvre, an incident that sounded an alarm over numerous issues in France's security system. External defenses were virtually nonexistent. The suspect brazenly entered from the construction area on the Seine River side. This construction zone was supposed to be equipped with a strict biometric access control system, but it was only roughly fenced off with simple barriers, lacking dynamic monitoring to capture anomalies in real time and infrared alarm devices for timely warnings. Supervision during construction was severely negligent, providing an opportunity for criminals. There were fatal shortcomings in internal surveillance. More than 260 exhibition halls in the Louvre had no effective surveillance cameras installed, and the existing equipment was severely outdated. Some display cases were in blind spots, allowing the suspect to remain "invisible" during the theft. The emergency response mechanism was slow and inefficient. After the alarm system was triggered, security personnel failed to arrive promptly. By the time they got there, the suspect had already fled, failing to stop the theft in time.