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Museum Theft: The Inside Scoop

Eighty-eight percent of all museum thefts involve someone on the inside. This means the people you hope you can trust the most with valuable artifacts may, in fact, be the ones you have to scrutinize most closely.

The Silverton Museum in Oregon learned that lesson the hard way when two antique watches went missing without any sign of forced entry.

A contributing factor to the theft was the fact that nearly 15 volunteers had access to the keys for the first watch's display case. Moreover, the second watch's display case didn't even have a lock. When the watches went missing, there weren't any clear indications of who might have opened the showcases.

The museum can't ignore the need for tighter security now. The first step in tightening security would be putting locks on every exhibit. This small action would go a long way in securing valuable historical pieces and deterring any potential thieves.

Next, the museum would need to find a way to ensure responsibility among their employees and volunteers. One way to enforce accountability is by using an electronic key control system.

With an electronic key control system, you can give each user a different authorization level. Instead of providing volunteers access to every display case key, you can limit access to only the specific key that a volunteer needs.

Key control systems also create an automatic record each time someone checks out a key. If a theft does occur, an electronic paper trail will lead to the last person who had the keys. Even if they aren't responsible for the missing item, they might know how someone gained access to the keys that were in their possession.

Check out this post for more benefits of electronic key control.
 
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