Camouflaged Holes
Camouflaged Holes: Surveillance Room
By Jim Goding
There is a phenomenon in dealing with personnel known as a “camouflaged hole.”
This is when apparently there is someone there, when there really isn’t.
It occurs where it is thought that someone has the capability of doing a job, is being paid to be there and do the job, yet is not doing it and in fact cannot.
This can be total, or it can be partial.
For instance, if a Surveillance Investigator is thought to have extensive knowledge of gaming, yet is weak in a certain area, such as craps or roulette, yet conceals the information from his seniors and other workers, there is a camouflaged hole. He can’t handle a certain game, yet no one knows this.
It is much better for everyone involved if it is known that the person has a weak spot. Several things can be done, then, to handle it. The person can be partnered with someone who really does know the game; the person can be coached and tutored to pick up the necessary knowledge and learn what he needs to know to watch the game. Since it is known to superiors that the person is weak on the game, it is not even too far out of line to get a Pit Manager into the Surveillance Room to review a section of tape on a questionable payoff or whatever.
But if it is concealed that the person has a weak spot, nothing is done to handle it; the person will end up reviewing a game he doesn’t know and giving false information to executives or Pit personnel in order to try to conceal his weak spot. This reduces the credibility and effectiveness of the Surveillance Department, and in an extreme case could even put the casino itself at risk, if a false evaluation were to be acted upon.
It is also possible to have a complete hole camouflaged, where a person believes he has extensive education and knowledge in the field of gaming, yet in fact is unable to evaluate performance on a game or spot crooked activity, see outpoints or bad procedure being used to conceal theft or cheating. The person would feel that because of all the courses he took that he was a competent investigator, yet would always be finding ways to get others to do the work of reviewing incidents, watching games, etc. One could become quite clever at concealing the lack of knowledge, even from oneself.
Unfortunately, there is another use for a camouflaged hole. Hunters know it, combat personnel know it: It is a trap for the unwary. You are walking along confidently on the trail and all of a sudden the ground disappears from under your feet, you fall ten feet onto sharpened stakes.
Or, more familiarly to most of us in these peaceful times, you take a lunch break, leaving the room in the care of your partner. He gets a craps, blackjack or wheel review, or a question about a person’s play from the Shift Manager, and, incompetent to handle it, the person left in the Surveillance Room while you were at lunch tries to feed false information to the Shift Manager, or gives an erroneous evaluation of a tape review. And guess who falls in the hole.
You. Your boss. And anyone else who has helped to camouflage the hole by covering for the person who was weak, without letting it be known.
One would be better off to have no personnel there than to have someone you thought could do the job and who could not in fact do it. At least then you can compensate for the hole.
This also applies to personnel in other areas. Sometimes we find that a particular floorperson is incompetent, or simply doesn’t know the job: He lets dealers get away with poor procedures, finds other things to do besides supervise, etc. This too is a camouflaged hole, unless reported. Here we have a definite function. Through careful reporting of the problem, the person in question can be brought up to a level of competency or otherwise handled on his own chain of command, based on information (not opinion) passed to them from the Surveillance Department.
The cure for a camouflaged hole is to identify it and report it. Once known (the covering of branches and leaves has been removed), it is much more difficult to fall into the trap. Steps can be taken to fill it in, or otherwise handle it.
If you have weak spots, be sure your partner and your Supervisor do know about them, so they can be handled.
