Reposted from Securitas Security Services, USA, Inc.

Extreme heat can be hazardous for those who work or spend extended time outdoors. While the heat itself can be threatening, the addition of what weather forecasters refer to as the “heat index” can exacerbate conditions. The heat index is the combination of high temperatures, humidity and direct sun exposure that contributes to heat stress. Those who work or play outside on a hot day should take basic precautions to protect themselves from the heat, sun exposure and other hazards.

Excessive Heat Events

U.S. summers commonly produce heat waves—several consecutive days of excessively high temperatures in a given geographic area of the country. Because of the health hazards posed by excessive heat, the National Weather Service (NWS) developed the following heat-related alerts:

An excessive HEAT WATCH is issued when a severe heat event is likely to occur in the next 24 to 72 hours. A watch provides sufficient notice to prepare for a potential extreme heat event.

An excessive HEAT WARNING or HEAT ADVISORY means an excessive heat event is in progress, imminent or expected. Either of these is issued within 12 hours of the onset of extremely dangerous heat conditions. A warning is used for conditions posing a threat to life or property. An advisory is issued for less serious conditions that cause significant discomfort or inconvenience, which, if caution is not taken, could pose a threat to life or property.

Stay Hydrated

 When working outdoors in elevated temperatures, experts recommend drinking about five to eight ounces of water every 15 to 20 minutes to stay sufficiently hydrated and maintain a safe core body temperature. Studies show that after only one hour in extreme heat conditions, a person’s alertness and endurance are compromised.

After two hours, the effects of heat stress—including cramps, fatigue, decreased strength and reduced coordination—may set in. Maintain proper hydration by drinking before, during and after exercise to replace body fluids. By the time you feel thirsty, you’re already dehydrated. Water is best for hydration, but sports drinks, which contain electrolytes lost in perspiration, are an alternative.

Cool water is absorbed more quickly by the body than warm or very cold fluids. Avoid coffee, tea and alcoholic beverages, all of which act to dehydrate the body.

Protection from the Sun

Sunlight contains ultraviolet (UV) radiation that causes premature aging of the skin, wrinkles and skin cancer. The amount of damage from UV exposure depends on the strength of the light, the length of exposure and whether the skin is protected. Protect yourself from the sun’s harmful rays by covering up. Wear a wide-brimmed hat and tightly-woven clothing—preferably a long-sleeved shirt and long pants. Gauge the protection offered by your clothing by trying to see your hand through the fabric. If you can, the garment offers minimal protection.

Eye protection is important too. Wear UV-absorbent shades. Some studies have shown a greater incidence of cataracts among those who do not wear sunglasses in bright sunlight.

Use sunscreen with a sun protection factor (SPF) of at least 30, and limit your exposure. UV rays are most intense between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. and are present even on cloudy days.

A Useful App

OSHA and NIOSH have developed an app available through the App Store or on Google Play. The Heat Safety Tool can be used for planning outdoor work activities based on how hot it feels throughout the day. Learn more about the app at https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/ heatstress/heatapp.html

Recognize and Respond

Heat-related illnesses can be very serious. Be familiar with the risks and signs. If someone becomes ill from the heat, move the person to a cooler area and call for help. Do not leave the person alone.

Headache, dizziness, or fainting; lethargy and clammy skin; irritability or confusion; and thirst, nausea or vomiting are all signs of heat exhaustion. Provide assistance to keep the situation from escalating.

Confusion, passing out and seizures as well as an inability to sweat may indicate that a person has heat stroke. This is a serious condition. SEEK HELP IMMEDIATELY.

If a person is not alert or seems confused, he or she might have heat stroke. CALL 911 IMMEDIATELY. Administer first aid and apply ice as soon as possible.

Additional Resources

Several resources are available to help you learn more about staying safe in hot weather.

• www.osha.gov which includes the OSHA Heat Stress Quick Card
• www.noaa.gov/weather
• www.cdc.gov which includes print-ready card about Protecting Yourself from Heat Stress
• www.medlineplus.gov

For more information on this and other security related topics, visit the Securitas Safety Awareness Knowledge Center at:

http://www.securitasinc.com/en/knowledge-center/security-and-safety-awareness-tips

Reposted from NorthJersey.com

The days of an open-door policy with employees and visitors allowed to move freely about work premises are over, security experts say.

Today, office buildings are equipped with technology and personnel to carefully monitor who goes in and out of a workplace and spend more effort than ever before screening potential employees and looking for warning signs in current ones.

“Two decades ago, roughly around the time we had our first major school shooting, I don’t think offices were doing anything at all,” said John Dony, director of the Campbell Institute at the nonprofit National Safety Council. “It was only in the past two or three years, when we’ve seen a much bigger spate of events at office workplaces as well as factory floors, has there been a turn in attention to that.”

Workplace shootings take at least 300 lives a year, according to a 2018 report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In 2016, nearly 400 people died from bullet wounds at work, an increase of 83 shootings since 2015.

So companies have focused much of their attention on tightening access through technology such as electronic badges and video surveillance, rather than bolstering security with gun-carrying guards, Dony said.

The most secure buildings prevent a familiar lunch vendor from entering a work area, said Robert McCrie, deputy chairman of the Department of Security, Fire and Emergency Management at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Some buildings have extended monitoring to the elevators, remotely controlling where a visitor can go.

McCrie envisions that technology advancing further. Casinos use video analytics to identify people who are banned from the premises, and retailers and offices eventually will too, he said.

For now, most offices use low-cost methods like discouraging employees from swiping in people without access badges, buying things that can be used as barricades in conference rooms and staging active-shooter drills to beef up security, Dony said.

The most effective tool against gun violence is recognizing signs that it might occur, McCrie said.

Research on mass workplace shootings — with three or more victims — has shown that shooters are often disgruntled employees who have been warned about their work performance or terminated from their job, have a poor relationship with co-workers, are prone to anger and have an affinity for guns, he said.

“People who have shot others are described as loners, individuals who could flare up over seemingly nothing,” McCrie said.

As the profile of a disgruntled, disengaged worker has become clearer, employers have adjusted their screening criteria accordingly, McCrie said. Social media has played an increasingly important role in weeding out problematic personalities.

“That’s the first line of defense,” he said. “Employers need to take time to make sure the individual they hire is a good fit in all ways.”

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Reposted from Dark Reading

Getting your company smartphone or laptop stolen from your car isn't just a hassle; it can have large regulatory ramifications, too. Visibility is the answer.

From San Francisco to Denver to Washington, DC, a "smash-and-grab" car crime wave appears to be striking the nation. In the month of April alone, vehicle break-ins averaged 51 per day just in San Francisco, with mobile phones, laptops, and tablets on the list of most in-demand and easy-to-snatch items.

In light of this, it's important to look at the IT security risks businesses are exposed to as a result of such crimes. The reality is that while mobile devices may be sitting in a parked car, they're likely connected to a corporate network. Add to that the fact that half of IT professionals surveyed reported a data breach resulting from a lost laptop, and the global average cost of a breach is more than $3 million, and it's not a good mix.

Against this backdrop, there's an important facet to the smash-and-grab situation that must be addressed: breach notification laws. Many countries and states have laws requiring notification to authorities and affected parties in the event of a data breach. In California, for instance, the state's S.B. 1386 data breach notification law includes notification requirements for organizations in situations where data might have been exposed.

Now, there's a chance that you do have a "get out of jail free" card, so to speak, if you can demonstrate that the data was encrypted. Unfortunately, without proof of encryption, you have no card to use. This means that it's critical not only to have encryption on the device but to be able to demonstrate that it was switched on in order to mitigate direct losses and to prevent the embarrassment of having to make a public mea culpa for it.

When devices are "dark" or unmanageable and outside the control of IT, they pose a significant threat. When company employees cite "cars and transportation" as the No. 1 location where they've experienced IT theft, the security status of these devices can't be a question mark — especially not when sensitive, possibly regulated data subject to breach notification laws is involved.

To prevent both economic and reputational loss, you need visibility. (Note: Absolute is a vendor of visibility technology, along with a number of other companies.) In fact, you need two types of it: ongoing visibility, which allows you to see that security controls are switched on and take the proper steps to secure sensitive data; and post hoc visibility, which allows you to prove it after a theft like a smash-and-grab when S.B. 1386 comes knocking. Without a clear line-of-sight, though, there is no way to know all resources — data, devices, users, and apps — are secure.

Sadly, security investment strategy can easily miss the mark here when, as former 451 Research analyst Javvad Malik says: "An informal method that is often seen at companies that have lower security maturity is spending just the minimum amount required until the next breach or incident is reported. Conversely, other companies spend freely, though not necessarily wisely, until their budgets have been exhausted."

Case in point: When a security leader approaches the CFO with a request to spend money on device safeguards because the organization recently experienced a stolen laptop, she or he will probably get budget approval. Down the line, in the likely event that the stolen laptop scenario repeats itself, if that security leader can't show that encryption was switched on, then the organization missed half of the value of the amount it spent. The technology may or may not have protected the company's data, but it certainly didn't protect the security leader's backside because the company doesn't have the visibility to know one way or the other.

t's important to understand your environment, know what hardware you have, and then go beyond the devices themselves to include intelligence around the applications or software on them, looking at what applications are being used by an individual. All of this insight helps you assess risk. At the end of the day, it's about properly protecting your organization's data, deriving value from all of your security budget, and breathing a bit easier despite the frequency of device losses and theft.

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Reposted from ArtNet News

Italy has stepped forward to help Brazil’s National Museum get back on its feet after a fire destroyed its building and millions of artifacts and specimens in its historic collection. Italian officials will send hundreds of ancient artifacts on long-term loan to Rio de Janeiro, as well as provide expert assistance to help restore salvaged objects.

Speaking in Rio de Janeiro on Wednesday, Italy’s undersecretary for cultural heritage, Lucia Borgonzoni, announced that it would make 2,000 loans available from the National Archaeological Museum of Naples, and the site of Herculaneum nearby, according to the Rio Times.

The offer of expertise and 20-year loans comes shortly after the director of Brazil’s National Museum, Alexander Kellner, traveled to Europe to gain support and raise funds to rebuild the museum after the fire last September devastated its the 200-year-old building. Around 90 percent of the collection is estimated to have been lost or damaged. The most priceless item in the collection, the remains of Lucia, the oldest human remains in the Americas, was luckily retrieved shortly after the fire. The National Museum was the largest natural history museum in South America, and one of oldest scientific institutions in Brazil.

The loans from Italy include ancient Roman marble statues and paintings on plaster. The first works are due to arrive in 2020. They will be exhibited at the Italian Cultural Institute and the Italian consulate in Rio until the national museum is rebuilt. “We can lend a hand in this recovery phase to save as many things as we can save,” Borgonzoni said, according to ANSA.

International help is sorely needed by the beleaguered, skeletal museum. In May, Kellner said the institution urgently needed $250,000 in order to “be able to breathe.” The German government gave money in the immediate aftermath last year, and pledged further assistance for the rebuild.

The Brazil-Italy partnership also seeks to re-establish an important part of the Brazilian collection that has a special link with Italy. The 19th-century Sicilian princess, Teresa Cristina, was the wife of Emperor Dom Pedro II of Brazil. She brought hundreds of items from the Herculaneum archaeological site with her when she moved to Brazil. The artifacts eventually became part of the permanent collection of the National Museum.

Elisabetta Canna, a conservator at the Herculaneum archaeological park, who is a world leader in restoration, was part of the Italian delegation in Brazil this week. She will take a leading role in the monumental task of restoring archaeological pieces salvaged from the fire and retrieving still-buried items, including, hopefully, those from Cristina’s trove.

“Each piece is like a patient, it is necessary to take into account a series of factors to define how to act. Even the water used to put out the fire is one more element that can cause damages,” Canna told the Brazilian news site Oglobo. “A tragedy like the one that struck the museum could be transformed into an opportunity to raise public awareness about the preservation of these collections,” she said.

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Reposted from The Virginian-Pilot

More than 20 million Americans are laid off or fired from their jobs each year. Most go quietly and move on. Steven Leet was the exception.

Fired from his job stocking parts at a Morgan Hill, Calif., Ford dealership Tuesday afternoon, the 60-year-old San Jose man lingered for nearly two hours and then barged into an open office where his two supervisors were meeting. He shot them to death, then walked outside and fatally shot himself.

It’s still quite rare for employees to kill their co-workers on the job.

“But they do happen,” said Wayne Maxey, a retired cop and district attorney investigator who’s now an executive consultant in workplace violence prevention with Workplace Guardians of Temecula, California. “One of the big obstacles is that a lot of organizations just kind of assume it’s not going to happen here.”

Over a five-year period from 2011 to 2015, 312 employees were killed on the job by a co-worker, an average of about 62 a year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. By comparison, robbers killed more than twice as many workers — 721 — over those years.

A 2014 FBI study on “active shooter” incidents in the workplace, schools and other public places from 2000 to 2013 indicated they alarmingly are on the rise. There was just one in 2000, the report said, but 30 in 2017, the most ever recorded by the FBI over a one-year period, according to a follow-up study.

That 2018 FBI study, however, said mass shooters typically telegraph their slide toward violence, offering hope that alert observers could intervene and head off tragedy.

“In the weeks and months before an attack, many active shooters engage in behaviors that may signal impending violence,” the report said. “While some of these behaviors are intentionally concealed, others are observable and — if recognized and reported — may lead to a disruption prior to an attack.”

Police have not revealed any warning signs about the Morgan Hill shooter.

The 2018 study examined 63 mass shooters and found few demographic trends other than that most were male. More than three out of four spent a week or more planning their attack, and more than half used legally acquired firearms. Only one in four had been diagnosed with a mental illness. In two-thirds of cases, at least one victim was targeted.

The shooters typically were experiencing multiple forms of stress, the report said, such as depression, financial strain, problems at work or school, marital strife and conflicts with friends and peers.

And they typically showed four or five observable and concerning behaviors before erupting in violence, the report said. Those most commonly included increased signs of depression, anxiety or paranoia; discord in relationships with family, friends, or colleagues; expressing intent to harm people; confused or irrational thinking; and a decline in work or school performance.

But the FBI report said that observers often are reluctant to act on their concerns “for fear of erroneously labeling a friend or family member as a potential killer.” And authorities “struggle to decide how best to assess and intervene, particularly if no crime has yet been committed.”

Morgan Hill police are still investigating Tuesday’s shooting that took the lives of Brian Light, the dealership’s service director, and Xavier Souto, the parts manager who was Leet’s supervisor.

Police said that after Leet was fired at 4:15 p.m., he spent about half an hour at his car in the parking lot, went back to the dealership parts department where he had worked and stood outside an open office where Light and Souto were meeting before entering just after 6 p.m. and opening fire. Surveillance video indicated they did not appear concerned about Leet lingering at the dealership after he was fired.

After searching Leet’s home, police found a dozen legally owned guns but no evidence he planned the bloody attack. And they had no answer to what prompted Leet’s firing, whether he knew it was coming, what he said to the employees he spoke with between being fired and shooting his boss, and whether anyone at the dealership knew of his affinity for firearms. Leet lived alone, and co-workers and neighbors described him as a quiet man who kept to himself.

Steve Fuentes, the owner of Sunnyvale Ford who was Light’s boss before he joined the Morgan Hill store about a year ago, said that most dealerships consider their employees like family, and if someone is fired, “it’s atypical to escort them off with security.”

But, after the shooting in Morgan Hill, Fuentes said he reached out to Sunnyvale authorities.

“There is an active shooter program they offer that we will get ourselves enrolled in,” Fuentes said, “and be as proactive as we can in case that kind of thing, God forbid, ever happens at our store.”

Consultants like Maxey who advise employers in avoiding and dealing with mass shootings say that while “active shooter” drills can help in a crisis, “there’s so much more to do before that.”

“In most cases, people don’t snap,” Maxey said. “There’s usually a progression.”

Security consultant Aric Mutchnick, president of Experior Group, said even large companies often lack clear protocols for handling employee terminations and keeping them from turning violent. He conducts role-playing exercises and points out areas where employers may inadvertently make things worse, like having security escort a fired worker to his desk with a box in front of co-workers.

“Is it the walk of shame?” Mutchnick said. “That’s not conducive to a pleasant experience.”

Even small details like the layout of the room where employees are given the bad news can amp up anxiety and tension — is it small and cramped, does the worker feel trapped? — Mutchnick said.

What happens before and after an employee gets fired are also important, Mutchnick said. Employers should clearly spell out grounds for termination and give workers opportunities to improve, he said, and they should follow up with fired workers in the weeks afterward to check on their well-being.

But co-workers need to have a means to confidentially report concerns about a colleague to company executives, experts said.

“In most of these cases, there is some behavior that occurs that can be detected,” Maxey said. “The big challenge is that in a lot of these cases people have seen these changes but they didn’t report it to the organization.”

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Reposted from Ashtree Books

Theft of books has occurred for centuries, but cultural institutions don’t always want to talk about it. We speak with collection managers who protect some of our most valuable artifacts.

Although there are films and books dedicated to the theft of rare items from cultural institutions – think The Map Thief and American Animals – it’s not often that we hear about theft from our cultural institutions. Whether it’s at the National Library of Australia or Museums Victoria, a lot of quiet work is being done by keepers of our most precious books to ensure they are not taken.

‘There’s not a lot of writing and research around theft and I think that’s particularly because cultural institutions are pretty reluctant to talk about it,’ said Maryanne McCubbin, Head of Strategic Collection Management at Museums Victoria.  

‘They get very embarrassed when theft of their material occurs from time to time; they see it as a breach of their trust of the public to look after collection material.’

McCubbin oversees a range of services across all of the collections including conservation and storage databases and collections on exhibition.

‘My role is to try and prevent theft,’ she told ArtsHub. ‘In my view, you can’t really do that properly unless you know the typology of the theft that you’re dealing with.’ 

Through her position, McCubbin became interested in researching theft from collecting institutes, to gain a wider understanding about why they occur, a subject which forms the premise for her talk at Melbourne Rare Book Week.

‘I’ve really focused on looking at histories of theft from libraries, archives and museums up until the 1960s in Australia,’ she tells ArtsHub. ‘I focus, to date, particularly on theft in Australian museums, but I’ve also started to look at books and associated material from libraries in Australia.’

Alongside her historical research, McCubbin keeps an eye on current thefts as they occur from museums and libraries around Australia.

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Reposted from CNN

By several accounts, security was present and conspicuous at the Garlic Festival in Gilroy, California, over the weekend.

The Gilroy Police Department had a "compound" on site, the police chief said. Patrons at the family-friendly food festival reported seeing officers on horses and motorcycles.

Yet, a 19-year-old, identified by police as Santino William Legan, was able to cut through a back fence and begin shooting people at random. The mayhem Sunday left three people dead and at least 12 injured.

It also put a spotlight on soft targets, places like festivals, schools and churches where people often think they can let their guard down and live freely and safely. Another shooting at a festival in New York Saturday that left one dead and 11 injured also emphasized the precariousness of such spaces.

Law enforcement experts say that despite heavier security at festivals, schools and churches, there's really little that can be done to prevent attacks from happening.

"No one would associate the Garlic Festival with an attractive target," said James Gagliano, a CNN law enforcement analyst and retired FBI supervisory agent.

Patrons offer different views of festival security

Police were present all three days of the festival, Gilroy Police Chief Scot Smithee told reporters Monday.

"We actually create a police compound where we have a command center, a booking area, you know, all the things you would need to run a major operation like this," Smithee said. "The officers are deployed throughout the park and they're assigned to different regions of the park so they're spread out, we don't have officers all in one spot."

Christian Swain, whose band TinMan was performing when the shooting broke out, told CNN "the event was well-covered with security and we'd seen them as we came in to set up and play."

Other patrons reported good levels of security with Gilroy police on horses and motorcyles.

But Sukhraj Beasla, who attended the festival with her family, said security was a little too relaxed.

"They were just kind of like checking the surface level of the bags. I noticed on the tables they had metal wand detectors not being used, there were no pat downs," she said. At one point, she said she and her family got lost and left the festival grounds, and got back in with ease.

"We were making jokes that you could've gotten off the street and walked in," Beasla said.

Experts say Garlic Festival wasn't a high risk event

Several experts said the Garlic Festival wasn't an event that would warrant high levels of security.

"Even if everyone would've gone through a checkpoint, it wouldn't have stopped this guy from doing what he did," Gagliano said.

The shooter was "committed to getting in," he said and found a way to avoid the security protocols. That does not mean the Gilroy Police Department was ill-prepared, he said.

"All security considerations are based on what your analysis is of the threat," Gagliano said. "This wasn't an event that was going to have high-level politicians or political overtones, this was a Garlic Festival. They probably looked at it and said ... the fence should be an enough of a deterrence." 

Three officers responded to the shooter within one minute, Smithee said.

Juliette Kayyem, a CNN national security analyst, said the challenge with events like the Gilroy festival and other soft targets -- areas like schools or churches -- is improving security.

"We get better about securing them because everything we're hearing is that entry was secure, that there was a strong presence, an assailant like this will find another way in," she said.

Philip Mudd, a CNN counter terrorism analyst and former CIA counterterrorism official, said protecting soft targets isn't "doable in a perfect way."

"There is no way across America in 50 states, that if you want perfect security, to keep somebody from cutting a fence that you can have it," he said.

Is it possible to prevent soft target shootings?

Still, enhancing security in parks, restaurants, shopping centers and special event venues, among other public locations is "essential to preserving our way of life and sustaining the engine of our economy," the US Department of Homeland Security said in the "Security of Soft Targets and Crowded Places Resource Guide" published in April.

The guide provides resources including links to training for citizens and businesses. It also calls on everyone -- business owners, first responders, government agencies and the general public -- to do what they can to protect their communities.

Gagliano says Homeland Security and the FBI both teach people four steps in dealing with an active shooter: run, hide, fight and tell.

These steps, Gagliano said, include finding a way to evacuate a dangerous situation, finding some form of shelter (a locked door or behind a tree), confronting a suspect if there is no other option and calling law enforcement as soon as possible.

He also said people generally need to be aware of their surroundings, something law enforcement officials call "relaxed alertness." This includes knowing exit areas and not being glued to a cell phone.

The Garlic Festival organizers are sure to make drastic changes next year, Gagliano said, but putting every officer in Gilroy isn't the answer.

"These are the times we're existing in right now," he said. "Somebody was able to cut a fence and come in."

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Reposted from Insurance Business Magazine

Millions of American workers fall victim to workplace violence every year. Some industries, like healthcare and education, are more prone to workplace violence than others. But as the National Safety Council points out: workplace violence can happen anywhere.  

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health splits its definition of workplace violence into four categories: criminal intent, customer/client, worker-on-worker, and personal relationship (which is often targeted towards women). The deadliest situations involve active assailants or active shooters who are “actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people” in the workplace.

On May 31, 2019, 12 people were killed and four injured when a longtime city-government employee, 40-year-old DeWayne Craddock, opened fire on his co-workers at one of the Municipal Center buildings in Virginia Beach, Virginia. While active shooter events may seem like the most frequent events because of the high-profile they receive in mainstream media, assaults are by far the most common issue.

In January, McDonald’s cashiers, cooks and custodians in Florida staged a walkout protest demanding better protection from workplace attacks following a viral New Year’s Eve customer attack video, filmed at the fast-food chain’s St. Petersburg location. The workers were demanding better protection, better training and better workplace violence policies.

One thing organizations can do to protect themselves against losses resulting from workplace violence is purchase insurance. In recognition of the recent spate of high-profile workplace attacks, Charity First Insurance Services - a program manager for non-profit and social service organizations – has introduced a new workplace violence and security risk management solution for non-profits.

“Unfortunately, in today’s environment we’re seeing an increase in violent incidents occurring within the workplace,” said Frank Tarantino (pictured), of Charity First Insurance Services, Inc. “With regard to non-profit organizations specifically, they normally lack the means to recover from such an event from both a monetary standpoint and their mission’s reputation.

“Most non-profits have an open-door approach to all who support their cause. However, many non-profits don’t have the proper controls in place to do background checks on everyone who wants to participate in their mission. Also, they often gather in common areas, such as convention halls, places of worship and community centers, which puts them at risk due to the lack of a secure environment.”

Charity First’s workplace violence and security risk management for non-profits solution includes legal liability coverage to address legal expenses from lawsuits that may result from a covered event. It also includes expenses related to public relations counsel, personal accident expenses and coverage, and crisis consultant fee and expenses. Particularly important for some of the more serious events, like an active shooter scenario, the coverage also includes business interruption and extra expense coverage for up to 120 days or the policy limit.

“When it comes to insurance agents, the key is to have a complete understanding of the non-profit’s mission and the types of prevention they already have in place,” Tarantino told Insurance Business. “Explain their risk in a way that applies specifically to what they do and provide examples of possible scenarios that could occur in their specific situation.”

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Reposted from ArtNet News

Containing elements of danger, glamour, intrigue, and cunning, art heists have an understandable mystique. These illicit, often multi-million-dollar, feats have made for the premises of some highly entertaining flicks (Entrapment, anybody?). And while crimes like the epic, unsolved robbery of Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, or the acrobatic antics of French art thief and so-called “Spiderman” Vjeran Tomic, give credence to visions of cat burglars dancing through laser security systems, art thefts in reality tend to be far more bumbling. 

Be it poor planning on the part of the thief or slipshod security measures, we’ve pulled together a few of our favorite less-than-flawless art heists to bring things back to earth.

ThieVes Fail to Fool With a Crude Dalí Forgery

Let’s start with the peculiar fact that there was a Salvador Dalí sketch housed at Rikers island for nearly 40 years. The artist donated the drawing in 1963 after calling out sick on a day he had promised to teach a one-day art class at the infamous New York City prison. Not wanting to wholly disappoint the inmates, the Spanish artist dashed out an inky depiction of Jesus with a crown of thorns atop his head and cast against a red cross, dispatching the rendering with the inscription that it be placed in the prison cafeteria.

Flash forward decades and, after years of hanging in the cafeteria and getting its fair share of food stains, more cautious officials moved the painting to a sealed-off lobby away from prisoners. But 2003 saw a Shakespearean reversal of roles as four prison guards concocted a scheme to steal the work, believing they could sell it for upwards of $1 million.

The guards’ plan was to set off a phony fire drill, remove the work, and replace it with a forgery. But there was a kink in their plans: none of the guards had any artistic talent. Though they managed to smuggle the Dali out of the prison, their replacement proved lacking and was soon discovered to be a fake. 

“The fake Dalí seemed to have been drawn by a child, one with no artistic talent,” the New York Times surmised. Even more tellingly, the forgery was stapled to the back of the Plexiglas case, a bit of a downgrade from its its original gold-leaf mahogany frame. In the end one guard wound up in prison, one on probation, one with a plea deal, and one walking free. The original Dalí has sadly not been recovered.

When It All Goghs Flat 

Car trouble got in the way of what would have been the biggest art heist in history. In April 1991, armed gunmen sacked 20 Van Goghs from the Vincent Van Gogh National Museum in Amsterdam. One of the thieves hid in the museum until after closing, and then let his accomplice in after nightfall.

The gunmen forced the guards (one of whom was later named an accomplice) to disarm the security systems and subsequently tied them up. The duo took a leisurely approach, spending over 45 minutes perusing the works before choosing their favorites, then tucking their selections into garment bags.

But one of the most spectacular heists also turned out to be one of the shortest. The Van Goghs, many from the artist’s late period, were found in a car at nearby railway station less than an hour later. As it turns out, a second car with which the robbers had planned to rendezvous had gotten a flat tire. When the car failed to arrive, the spooked-bandits abandoned the Dutch master’s sunflowers, irises, and potato eaters and hit the road. The artwork, so briefly foisted, was estimated at nearly $500 million in value. Four men, including a guard, were later arrested for the crime.

Spatial Snafu

Along with the lock picks, saws, and gloves, thieves may want to consider adding measuring tape to their criminal tool kits. In 2012, a pair of would-be vandals broke into a Stockholm house with plans to abscond with a trio of paintings including Clair-Obscur, a sentimental canvas by painter Carl Larsson, a creator of the so-called Swedish style of painting.

But the bandits hadn’t accounted for the size of their vehicle. When the four-by-three-foot work refused to wedge in, the thieves were forced to ditch the painting, nearly running it over as they fled. The two smaller paintings were discovered in nearby dumpster. Surprisingly, the compact car was an American-made Ford. Next time, better opt for the SUV. 

Sometimes It’s the Museum That Blunders

Fool a museum once shame on you, fool a museum twice, and robbers could wind up with a $50 million Vincent Van Gogh in their hands for the second time in thirty-some years. Cairo’s Mohamed Mahmoud Khalil Museum is home to one of the finest collections of European 19th-and 20th-century art in the Middle East, but what it boasts in Impressionist masterpieces, it seemingly lacks in security infrastructure.

Vase With Flowers (circa 1887), commonly known as Poppy Flowers, was first lifted from the museum in 1978 under undisclosed circumstances, only to be retrieved in Kuwait several years later. Experience did not prove the greatest teacher in this case: the small, one-by-one-foot painting was pilfered from the museum again in 2010. A comedy of errors commenced, as authorities soon after wrongly announced that the painting had been retrieved from an Italian couple at the Cairo airport, only to retract the statement soon after.

As for the bandits, this caper was a cakewalk: only seven out of the museum’s 43 security cameras were functional at the time of the crime. The thieves were even able to pull up a couch while they cut the work from its frame. And though only 10 visitors entered the museum that day, the perpetrators and the whereabouts of the artwork remain unknown to this day. 

The Students Inspired by ‘Oceans 11’

One too many high-stakes crime films seem to be behind the real-life fiasco that inspired the 2018 film American Animals. In 2004, four Kentucky students with dreams of grandeur attempted to sack millions of dollars of rare books from their university library, which included a first edition copy of Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species and drawings and sketches by naturalist John James Audubon. The students, who said they had obsessively watched heist films like Oceans 11 in the lead up, hoped to sell the books through a dubious set of underground connections. Instead, they wound up in prison.

What went awry is more a matter of where to begin. The students’ half-baked plot included scheduling a daytime viewing at Transylvania University’s Rare Books Collections where they would incapacitate the librarian, then trundle their loot to a waiting getaway car. In a first failed attempt, the crew arrived to their viewing costumed as old men in thick suits and false mustaches. Arriving at the library only to realize more than one librarian was on staff that day, the boys scrapped the plan for that day.

Soon after, they gave it another go, returning this time without costumes. One student tasered the librarian, who, instead of falling unconscious as they had planned, began to scream in pain. The posturing thieves had likewise underestimated the weight of the books, and haphazardly dropped and abandoned many of them as they fled out one of the public doors. 

The students, who had timed their crime to the alibi of final exams, shockingly went without capture for weeks, even driving north to Christie’s in New York with the hopes of receiving certificates of authenticity for their illicit reading materials. But a digital slip-up queued the crew’s imminent demise: one of the students booked the Christie’s appointment using the same email account with which he’d scheduled his criminal library viewing. Soon after, the FBI busted down each of their doors. The crew of four each refused to testify against one another, all winding up with identical seven-year sentences.   

A Gallery Robbery Kiboshed by Carousing College Kids  

It’s got to be a sad day in the land of thieves when a robbery can be halted by college students coming off Super Bowl festivities. In February 2017, just after midnight, three Boston University students were walking back to campus after the Patriots Super Bowl win when they spotted a man suspiciously emerging through the smashed glass door of the Galerie d’Orsay, holding what turned out to be stolen works of art.

Despite any preceding celebratory antics, the students, Chris Savino, Jesse Doe, and Mackenzie Thompson, sensed something was off and pursued the thief down the street, retrieving the works and accosting the criminal, 29-year-old Jordan Russell Leishman, until police arrived. Leishman, who was arrested for breaking and entering, had decent taste, selecting etchings by Miró and two Chagalls, but ultimately had missed some heavy hitters including a Picasso and Rembrandt that were also on view in the gallery.

A Museum’s Criminally Lax Security 

In 2012, Romanian thief Radu Dogaru masterminded a spectacular $24 million robbery of Rotterdam’s Kunsthal museum, efficiently plucking works by Picasso, Monet, and Gauguin from the walls in under 90 seconds. The pre-dawn heist was valued at more than €200 million. 

But in a bizarre turn of logic, the deft criminal claimed to be a victim of the museum’s relaxed security measures and attempted to sue the museum for making things too easy. “I could not imagine that a museum would exhibit such valuable works with so little security,” he opined in his court hearing.

After his arrest, Dogaru’s mother claimed to have burned the seven stolen works in an oven, only to later retract the statement. Four people were ultimately pinned for the crime, with Dogaru as the ringleader. In 2018, in one more bizarre turn, a Belgian theater group pranked the ever hopeful museum when, as part of a publicity stunt, they staged finding Picasso’s Tête d’Arlequin, one of the looted works (valued at nearly $800,000) using a forgery. 

A Renegade Thief’s Costly Lesson

When three works by Picasso, Van Gogh, and Gaugin were snatched out of Manchester University’s Whitworth Art Gallery in 2003, it was, quite poetically, a dark and stormy night—one of the city’s rainiest in history. Undeterred, or perhaps even encouraged, by the inclement weather, a thief purportedly pried open the steel-covered doors at the back of the museum and pilfered the three works without ever tripping an alarm system or appearing on video surveillance.

At 2 a.m. that night, the police received a mysterious call that the works had been “found” in a dilapidated public lavatory nearby. When the police arrived they found not only the three works rolled up in a cardboard tube, but also a handwritten note which read, “We didn’t intend to steal these paintings, just to highlight the woeful security.” The works, which had slight weather damage, were soon returned to the museum.

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Reposted from Security Management 

​Recent guidance from the U.S. Secret Service, Enhancing School Safety Using a Threat Assessment Model: An Operational Guide for Preventing Targeted School Violence, offers baseline information for developing a threat assessment team (TAT) to mitigate potentially violent or devastating events at K-12 schools in the United States. 

The Secret Service advocates for a five-step process to establish a TAT with a multidisciplinary approach to information sharing. For each step, the author will provide guidance that extends beyond the scope of the Secret Service report with additional threat prevention measures.

1. Establish a multidisciplinary team. The TAT is designed to direct, manage, and document threat assessment processes. Assemble a team from a variety of disciplines, which may include teachers, school guidance counselors, coaches, school resource officers, mental health professionals, and school administrators. Have a designated leader with the authority to act immediately in cases where time is of the essence. Meet on a regular basis and when needed if there is an emergent concern. These meetings should include dealing with potential threat indicators, training and role-playing focused on building confidence and capability, and building rapport and confidence in other team members.

Additional guidanc​e: Threat assessment is an intelligence-led activity and requires a certain skill set to synthesize information. Schools could partner with an agency or consider employing an employee with an intelligence background. The Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC) also offers valuable trend information on physical and cyber threats that could be useful for the TAT. 

2. Define prohibited and concerning behavior. Concerning behavior progresses through a continuum, and policies must consider warning signs, which include “a marked decline in performance; increased absenteeism; withdrawal or isolation; sudden or dramatic changes in behavior or appearance; drug or alcohol use; and erratic, depressive, and other emotional or mental health symptoms,” according to the report. Policies and procedures should be set in place to monitor and direct action to collect additional information to consider if these are indeed a concern.

Additional guidance: The Secret Service does allude to a continuum, but there is no specific guidance on how to categorize threats. A more in-depth understanding of transient and substantive threats is needed. It may be advisable to develop a tailored process map for each TAT, which describes each step and indicates responsibility in each phase to avoid anything falling through the cracks. 

3. Create a central reporting system. Establishing a central reporting system is crucial to all other threat assessment activities. Schools should establish multiple streams of information that could include online reporting, email, phone, and face-to-face communication. No reporting should be dissuaded but educating the school community on what to report will increase the validity of information. Document thoroughly when responding to each report, categorizing threats, and determining whether to act. Anonymous reporting should be an option for those who are uncomfortable coming forward in a formal or public way. It is important to handle each case with professionalism, considering privacy and confidentiality concerns.

Additional guidance: Consider partnering with an Information Sharing and Analysis Center (ISAC), which is a nonprofit organization that provides an avenue for two-way sharing between the public and private sectors. Though ISACs have traditionally dealt with cyber and physical security, the model could be used to develop information sharing practices related to threat assessment. ​

4. Determining the threshold for law enforcement intervention. Law enforcement intervention may be needed in some cases, though it may not be involved in all threat assessment efforts. Create policies and procedures to indicate when law enforcement should be involved—for example, in cases that deal with weapons, threats of violence, and physical violence. Law enforcement should be involved when elements of a crime are present.

Additional guidance: Certain privacy laws set limitations on law enforcement activity when it comes to minors. School administrators and the TAT should familiarize themselves with state law before developing policies and procedures around law enforcement response.

5. Establish assessment procedures. Establishing threat assessment procedures will help paint an accurate picture of the student’s thinking and behavior, formalize a reporting structure, and identify appropriate interventions. Documentation is once again stressed, with creation of forms and templates to capture necessary information. The report recommends a community-wide approach and encourages a brainstorming exercise on sources of potentially helpful information. This exercise can be repeated once an individual of concern is identified for information more specific to that person. Additionally, social media should be examined to gain information, interviews should be conducted, and the student’s locker should be searched. 

Additional guidance: The Secret Service guidance seems to only consider internal threats—mainly students—but narrowing the focus is a risk in and of itself. A threat could be anyone: a teacher, contractor, administrator, or someone not associated with the school. 

Threat assessment is a necessary part of threat prevention at every K-12 school. Threat assessment programs and teams will be more successful if they are a function of an overarching enterprise risk management process, fueled by both internal and external sources of information.

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