the robb report collection supplement > November 2002

Stealing Beauty

High-Tech Security Gives Art Thieves the Brush-Off

by Eric Hiss

One of the most impressive collections of fine art, antiques and collectibles we've discovered recently isn't in a museum or gallery. In fact, the items can't even be viewed in person; they are all online -- on the Los Angeles Police Department's website, to be exact.

A painting by Cézanne is one example of a well-known artwork that was recovered by the LAPD Art Theft Detail.

Page after page of purloined Lalique vases, Tiffany lamps, ethereal oils by Georges Braque, dreamy Dalis and a prodigious list of Masters to moderns are enough to give any owner of fine quality works the absolute shivers. Don't even bother looking at sites set up by the FBI and Interpol; it just gets more depressing, confirming that art and antique theft is big business -- and international at that.

Thankfully, however, the technology that allows prominent museums and galleries to keep thieves at bay is increasingly available to private collectors who need to protect their own valuable collections. Vibration detectors, Radio Frequency (RF) tags, photoelectric traps (infrared beams that shoot a beam up to 600 feet across room), microwave beams and video motion sensors digitized for "smart" surveillance are just some of the modern tools security experts are employing to safeguard their clients' assets.

But before embarking on creating a digital defense for one's valued pieces, it's important to catalog the collection. "It's extremely important we have something like a CD-ROM or digital video of these assets," says Tom Pratt of Thomson & Pratt, insurance brokers specializing in fine art. "In the unfortunate event something does happen, this information will be invaluable in recovering the piece."

After the value has been established, it's time to bring in the experts. Doug Hall, chief of the Technical Security Division at the Smithsonian Institution's Office of Protection Services, says that value plus risk factors are used to justify the expense of preventive security measures. "The more value, the more you can spend on security, either electronic, physical or human," says Hall. "Remember, however, that value is not always judged by money, but by cultural significance or other intrinsic values."

While institutions like the Smithsonian are understandably reluctant to divulge their particular methodology, we do know that gizmos worthy of a starring role in "The Thomas Crown Affair" are becoming increasingly prevalent in museums and private collections alike.

For private collections, the first line of defense is around the perimeter of the home. Called "the alert system," this could include "smart" surveillance cameras featuring digital sensors that know to look at only one part of an image (ignoring palm fronds, for example in one part of the frame), while remaining alert to pixel changes in another section, indicating movement across the image.

And since these systems are no longer tape-based, with a broadband Internet connection, images can be streamed into central stations or laptops in patrol cars. Closer to home, sensors that measure sound waves can be mounted near windows and glass cases, sending an alert if the pitch of glass being broken or cut is detected. Drop your keys -- no problem. Cut a line with a glass-cutter, look out. Valuables themselves can be protected with vibration sensors that detect even the slightest movement off a pedestal. Tamper switches (which are tamper-proof themselves, sending an alarm if cut), send alerts when a contact is broken, such as when a painting is unsecured from a wall.

No larger than a strip of tape, RFID tags use radio frequency and discreet antennas to communicate with a Bond-worthy box called an accelerometer, which monitors the secure position of an objet d'art in a room. Manufactured by companies such as Prism, these systems are part of a class of protective devices known as "asset movement control," where tags can be applied to the base of a statue or the back of a canvas.

Should the piece be moved, GPS-like telemetry is engaged that not only sends an alarm to designated personnel, but tracks the moving piece as well. (Be sure to warn the housecleaner before she dusts, or the visiting sibling who decides the Vienna Secession looks better in the guest bedroom).

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