Tower of London keys stolen. Another rousing success story for private firms over lazy public employ

[rpannier]

(headline: sarcasm tag)

Beefeaters not to blame over Tower of London keys theft

snip

The man's presence was detected by the guards in the security control centre and the night guard was despatched to apprehend the trespasser and was on the scene within three minutes. By then, though, the intruder had managed to swipe a set of keys from an unguarded sentry box just outside the main gates, as a search would no doubt have revealed.

snip

It was the kind of sloppy security that could make the ravens restless and should give the Beefeaters a bad name. But it appeared that the Tower's famous red and black-clad guard yeoman warders were not to blame. The perimeter area where the incident happened was not patrolled by the former noncommissioned officers from the armed forces whose job it is to guard the Queen's jewels and to give tours, but by a private security firm, ICTS, to which the contract to defend the perimeter of the palace was outsourced in 2010. "It was the third-party security firm that was the first port of call on the outside," said the Royal Palaces spokeswoman.

A spokeswoman for Historic Royal Palaces, which is the custodian of the Tower of London, said: "During this incident, keys for a restaurant and conference rooms were taken together with a key to an internal lock to the Tower drawbridges that is not accessible from the outside.

"It would not have been possible to gain access to the Tower with any of these keys and at no point was the security of the Tower at risk. All affected locks were immediately changed.

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Not really earth shattering I know. And at no time were the crown jewels taken, or in danger but I think it's fascinating how those more competent private firms do such a smashing job

link:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/nov/12/beefeaters-tower-of-london-theft