Crime Scene Procedure
- This ten-page article provides templates for contingency plans for handling eight types of crime commonly occurring in the casino environment
Crime Scene Procedure
By Jim Goding
Sooner or later every Surveillance investigator, in the normal course of his duties, encounters an actual crime, either about to happen, in progress, or after the fact. In order to supply all of the required information to Security and law enforcement agencies, in a useful format, specific procedures must be known and followed. This applies whether this is a Gaming crime, such as cheating at cards or slot machine scams, or any of the various other types of criminal activity that occur in casinos, from armed robberies to embezzlement and petty theft.
The first thing the Surveillance investigator must do is recognize that a crime is occurring or is about to occur. Some type of classification of the action must occur at this point.
If the crime in progress or about to occur involves threat to life, such as an armed robbery, the very first action is to notify Security by the fastest means possible, if they have not already been notified by someone else. Most casino Security departments have an emergency telephone number, and all Surveillance investigators must be able to use this without hesitation. The Surveillance Room should also have available a Security radio for just such situations, where rapid communication to Security Dispatch and Security Supervisors could save a life or prevent bodily harm to a guest or staff.
Once notification has been made to Security, Surveillance must stay off the Security communication lines, except to answer questions from Dispatch or Security Supervisors. An overall coverage camera view of the action should be provided to Security Dispatch, if the Surveillance system permits.
In all cases not involving threatened bodily harm or risk to guests or staff, an Investigator must immediately notify his Supervisor, who will then direct Surveillance activities as required, make necessary contacts with Security and casino management, and handle all subsequent communications with police, Gaming Control, and casino executives.
That does not relieve the Investigator of the responsibility of knowing what to do. The crime could occur when neither the Supervisor nor Director can be reached, in which case the responsibility falls upon the Investigator.
The first key is that it is the purpose of Surveillance to observe, provide properly recorded evidence, and effectively and clearly report exactly what has occurred.
All reports are turned over to the Surveillance Director, and must be accompanied by copies of any written statements made, dubbed recordings of the incident, etc.
Following are detailed summaries of the actions that must be taken by Surveillance personnel in various cases of observed criminal activity, according to these classifications:
- I. Armed robbery of casino Cage, Change Booths, or guests. (Includes, for our purposes, strongarm robbery or any form of bodily assault.)
- II. Theft from guest by non-staff
- III. Theft from guest by staff.
- IV. Theft from casino by staff
- V. Gaming Cheats, Table Games
- VI. Gaming Cheats, Slots
- VII. Theft from Slots
- VIII. Other petty crimes and misdemeanors.
Approximately nine pages of material has been deleted here, detailed Contingency Plans for Surveillance. These are sample contingency plans meant to be used as a basis for forming the plans for your own casino according to your own unique situation regarding state and local law enforcement, state and local law, and company policies regarding the handling of the various types of criminal activity.
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