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Direction of Attention

By Jim Goding

In a Surveillance Room, the attention of operators and investigators most properly is focused outward.

When attention of the eyes and mind is directed inward, toward the surveillance room and its people, personnel troubles result. People play political games. The casino itself is neglected.  

Operators properly should be watching games, slots, cage, count rooms, change booths, pits, and monitoring the activities of Security. The only inward attention for surveillance investigators is ensuring that equipment is working properly and that logs and reports are correctly done.

Surveillance Supervisors need to keep a minority of their attention reserved for activities within the room. Part of their job is ensuring that the investigators are doing their jobs and keeping their attention outward on the casino. They share the responsibility with the Director of seeing that the equipment covers all areas of concern. They make recommendations on matters of scheduling, additional equipment needed, repairs, etc.

However, even the Supervisors must keep the greatest majority of their attention directed outward. The Supervisors are responsible for liaison with Security, Slot, Cage and Pit management, and for communications with the casino management in the absence of the Director.

When investigators and operators focus their attention on the others in the Surveillance Room, on the people of the other shifts, rivalries and other internal concerns, actual surveillance is being neglected. Minor errors such as a tape not rewound, a missing tape log entry, etc., should simply be handled and dropped. More major errors such as hardwired cameras being left off live games, information incorrectly disseminated, and so on, are the concern of the Supervisors, but should still be handled with a minimum of internal attention and correction. It is much more important to handle the problem than to find out who did it. A general notice to staff regarding a problem is just as effective as a heavy internal investigation, and keeps the department's attention focused outward.

Copyright © 1999, 2002 by Jim Goding. All rights reserved. Duplication in any form, electronic or otherwise, without the express written permission of the author is forbidden, is a violation of the proprietary rights of the author and is actionable under law. This article may be purchased for a nominal fee by clicking on the following link.

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