I need to rob a museum...

Madison · Apr 14, 2008

...but I can't figure out how.

The internet has a wealth of info about museum security, but next to nothing about bypassing it. Even googling 'tips on robbing museums' didn't lead to a single helpful link. My characters need to know (right now) how they're gonna pull this off!

Does anyone lead a secret life or rob museums in their spare time? Help would be much appreciated (and I swear I won't tell)!

ETA: This is not to say that I haven't done my research myself. I know some things. But I still feel like I would get caught if I ever attempted to rob the Louvre...which means my characters don't stand much of a chance)

jannawrites · Apr 14, 2008

Watch Ocean's Eleven!

lkp · Apr 14, 2008

Watch Return of the Pink Panther.

Madison · Apr 14, 2008

Check
Check

Good movies, but I'd rather not steal used ideas. I want to do it my own way...which means knowing the system.

jannawrites · Apr 14, 2008

*shrugs* I'm sorry I'm of no help, Madison. My brain just doesn't figure out stuff like that.

Good luck!

Namatu · Apr 14, 2008

Use magic!

Shweta · Apr 14, 2008

Talk to museum folks and ask if they know any interesting ways that would be plausible but wouldn't actually work?

They obviously wouldn't tell you ways that would work

jannawrites · Apr 14, 2008

Shweta said:
Talk to museum folks and ask if they know any interesting ways that would be plausible but wouldn't actually work?

They obviously wouldn't tell you ways that would work

Great idea! Have you tried calling one of your local museums?

Madison · Apr 14, 2008

hm... good idea! I'll check it out.

"Hi, I was wondering how to rob your museum..."

Birol · Apr 14, 2008

DeleyanLee · Apr 14, 2008

As point of fact, you can invent the museum, thus invent the security system AND the way to get round it. Have fun with it.

Honestly, museums have too much invested for them to "help" authors do this (crooks can watch movies & read books, after all)--so just use your research and your imagination and make it exciting. That's part of what makes it "fiction".

Carlene · Apr 14, 2008

Google Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. It was robbed oh, maybe 15 years ago? It's a big museum in Boston, BUT at the time of the robbery, they didn't have an alarm system, just guards. Well, two guys dressed as cops showed up one night, said they had to check something out and the guards let them in. Of course the cops tied up the guards, took selected piaintings from a list they had and ... disappeared. To date, none of the paintings have been recovered.

This might work if your museum is in a small town, or something. Might be worth your time to read about it. Oh, and if you find the paintings? There's a five million dollar reward!

Carlene
www.themysterystartshere.com

Shweta · Apr 14, 2008

DeleyanLee said:
Honestly, museums have too much invested for them to "help" authors do this (crooks can watch movies & read books, after all)

Yes, that's part of why I was wondering if it was possible to ask for a way that wouldn't actually work.

Smiling Ted · Apr 14, 2008

Well, if you don't want to watch How to Heist a Million, Topkapi, Rafifi, or The Thomas Crowne Affair...

Maybe your best bet would be to research thefts that have already occurred.

Also, not all valuable art is kept in giant, highly guarded institutions like the Louvre and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Many pieces are kept in smaller galleries or libraries, where the security is less intense.

[Note: I see someone mentioned the Isabella Stewart Gardner incident. Perfect example!]

Madison · Apr 14, 2008

Thanks!

I like the Gardner incident. It's a small town...not even a town actually. To be completely exact, it's not even a museum, but has museum security because of the value of the loot inside. So Gardner incident-esque might work.

Yeah, the security is much less intense than the Louvre!

I'll read about past heists. Mostly, it's just the security terms - PIR and all that stuff - that are causing me trouble. And how to neatly get past them...

BlackViolet13 · Apr 14, 2008

I just asked my hubs, who is a police sargeant, about this. After he said you need to watch The Da Vinci Code (thanks, honey :e2hammer:

) he said that if you're able to find something similar to what you're looking for (the Boston Museum robbery, for example) everything related to the case is public record. You should be able to get in touch with the City and get public records like the police reports and so on, and find out details about the security system or whatever. Don't know if this will work for you, but I thought I'd throw it out there

Elliot Cowan · Apr 14, 2008

Why don't you create a scenario where in the robbery plan there is a single solitary obstacle they don't know how to overcome and they overcome it anyway, but the reader doesn't know how until the very, very end.
For example.
They can climb the walls, break in, sneak down the corridor but can't work out how to get past the guard.
At the very end it's revealed that the guard was part of the caper all along.
Or some other nonsense...

WittyandorIronic · Apr 14, 2008

I don't know if it being a museum is an absolute must, but I second (or third) the idea that it doesn't have to be a high profile big museum to have good loot.
Weird story: I was invited to a dinner this past holiday season to a private club in DC. After dinner we toured the building and their 'collection'. In a building that was guarded ONLY by some stuffy front desk guys there was an American flag from the civil war, some other fancy stuff, and George Washington's commission papers (it might have been his papers from when he got out of the military... I don't recall exactly). It was framed and hung in the corner of a room somewhere in the back of the second floor. Now, I am sure that they have cameras and stuff, but there really didn't seem to be enough security for all the interesting and, I assume, valuable stuff in the building. It was weird.

Madison · Apr 14, 2008

WittyandorIronic said:
Weird story: I was invited to a dinner this past holiday season to a private club in DC. After dinner we toured the building and their 'collection'. In a building that was guarded ONLY by some stuffy front desk guys there was an American flag from the civil war, some other fancy stuff, and George Washington's commission papers (it might have been his papers from when he got out of the military... I don't recall exactly). It was framed and hung in the corner of a room somewhere in the back of the second floor. Now, I am sure that they have cameras and stuff, but there really didn't seem to be enough security for all the interesting and, I assume, valuable stuff in the building. It was weird.

that'll be my next story

I'll set to work tracking down all these leads (thanks everyone!) See, in this story I play detective and robber. Best of both worlds.

hammerklavier · Apr 15, 2008

- get a job at the museum, inside jobs are easier.
- steal the item when it is visiting another museum (either at the other museum or in route)
- that painting was stolen by the nazi's from my grandfather, I'll have it back now, thanks (with the appropriate fake evidence and lawyers)

Charlie Horse · Apr 15, 2008

I have no idea how to go about doing this. But if you need an accomplice let me know.

cethklein · Apr 15, 2008

Watch Highlander: the Raven. Amanda robs numerous museums.

Smiling Ted · Apr 15, 2008

hammerklavier said:
- get a job at the museum, inside jobs are easier.
- steal the item when it is visiting another museum (either at the other museum or in route)
- that painting was stolen by the nazi's from my grandfather, I'll have it back now, thanks (with the appropriate fake evidence and lawyers)

Going in with lawyers won't work - a piece in dispute stays with the museum that has it. (Italy has been suing the Getty for years for some of its pieces.)

Security is usually higher, not lower, when a piece is visiting another museum.

Elliot Cowan · Apr 15, 2008

Smiling Ted said:
Going in with lawyers won't work - a piece in dispute stays with the museum that has it. (Italy has been suing the Getty for years for some of its pieces.)

Security is usually higher, not lower, when a piece is visiting another museum.

Interesting you should mention this as it could prove to be a useful plot device.
Several years ago the English government forked out several million dollars to send the Magna Carta to Australia.
It was heavily promoted, they spent a fortune on advertising and it toured all the major galleries and was easily accessible for anyone who wanted to see it.
But no-one did.
Nobody was interested and the tour was a massive financial failure.
Perhaps you could use that as part of the story.
As the tour of the artifact continues, less and less people show up and security becomes sloppy and lazy.

Bartholomew · Apr 15, 2008

The first thing anyone is going to do is scope the building out looking for cameras. Ideally, this will be done by someone NOT involved in the actual breaking and entering. Knowing where the cameras are gives you two options--

(a - pure fantasy - Your character stealths through a predetermined path that puts him out of the way of the cameras.

(b - Researching some tech - your characters somehow manipulate the cameras to malfunction, or show something else entirely. Your characters can move with impunity through the building, wary only of guards and alarm systems.

(c - Brute force - With the camera system disabled, your characters can round the guards up and tie them up. Or kill them.

With either B or C, make sure the cameras are seen as malfunctioning two or three times before your intended day of robbery. This way, the person monitoring the cameras is used to it screwing up, and does not immediately contact the police.

There's a LOT more to do, but this should get you at least started.

I need to rob a museum...

summertime...

no, really

summertime...

no, really

Lost in mental space.

gone

no, really

summertime...

Around and About

Writing Anarchist

New kid, be gentle!

gone

Ah-HA!

summertime...

Publish Me

summertime...

It was a dark and stormy night

Speaking in metaphors

Ah-HA!

Publish Me

Comic guy