All night long I had nightmares about being stripped bare by security officers who were looking for plastic guns in my pockets.

This morning I feared coming to work. Not because a man with a gun robbed yesterday a branch of the ING bank in a building of the European Parliament. But because I feared meeting the security people in the morning, at the entrance of the building I work in. All night long I had nightmares about being stripped bare by security officers who were looking for plastic guns in my pockets (plastic being not detected by the security gates).

The robber was disguised as a woman © Bunny Gun Girl

Newspapers, blogs and social networking websites raged yesterday about the “failure” of the European Parliament’s security system and staff, allowing a bank robbery to happen on the premises while in a neighbouring meeting room, Mikhail Gorbachev, Prince Albert of Monaco and other VIPs attended a conference.

How was that possible? With loads of security devices and well prepared security staff supposed to protect the most democratic institution in the EU? Some voices called the event incredible but unforgivable. But I call it possible.

Anyone can pass through the security gates with a fake plastic gun in his/her pocket (supposing it was fake). The security is concerned about real weapons, the detectors have been built to find metal, not plastic. And you can’t strip bare all the 10.000 visitors per day at the European Parliament, just to check whether they have a toy gun on them. You also cannot prevent the people to enter the premises. “This is the European Parliament and its buildings must remain open and accessible to European citizens”, said yesterday the European Parliament’s spokesman, Mr Jaume Duch, “one hundred percent security can never be guaranteed.”

The investigations continue. The video recordings from security cameras in the Parliament’s corridors are now checked and everyone hopes that the thief will be caught. I hope that the (probable) increased security measures won’t take too much of my time every morning when I come to work.