Because of the many jurisdictional issues involving gaming , there is no one single set of printed security measures that should be implemented in all casinos , and not all casinos require every security measure be in place .
Because of the many jurisdictional issues involving gaming , there is no one single set of printed security measures that should be implemented in all casinos , and not all casinos require every security measure be in place .
Standard of Care
Basic legal concepts require that a casino property provide a reasonable level of safety and security to its customers , visitors and employees . Each attorney or security professional ( including legal security experts who testify at trial ) has his or her own perception of what is reasonable or what should be included in a security plan .
The standard of care is what a reasonable and comparable casino property would do to protect customers as compared to yours . As a legal concept , a casino property and its owners are expected to have security measures in place , and if they do , defending them during a lawsuit becomes much easier . It is the judge or jury that will determine whether your security measures were adequate or not .
Because of the many jurisdictional issues involving gaming , there is no one single set of printed security measures that should be implemented in all casinos , and not all casinos require every security measure be in place . Collectively , there are many components that establish what the standard of care is , and include applicable statutory and case laws , local regulations , and ordinances . Tribal gaming operations , compacts and gaming commissions may also dictate a portion of the standard of care .
When it can be demonstrated to a jury that there was an obvious motivation to reduce or prevent violent crime through reasonable implementation of safety and security programs , your chances of prevailing at trial increase . Your chances of case dismissals also increase if you can demonstrate your reasonable security plan in place during legal discovery .
In many states , there exists case law that guides casino properties based on local precedent . Your company attorney can pull that case law and complete an analysis of what security measures are in place , and compare it to what the courts in your jurisdictions have determined what security measures should be in place to mitigate litigation .
The Physical Protection System ( PPS ), or the reasonable security measures deployed and in place , do have some time-tested results in the general sense in that those security measures can deter criminals who are deterrable . Security measures are not effective on criminals who are not deterred by the obvious uniformed security officer patrolling , increased lighting , or the large number of surveillance cameras found both inside and outside of a gaming facility . The widespread use of “ hoodies ” by criminals shows how they evolve , adapt and avoid technology detection or identification . This should be considered when designing countermeasures .
The standard of care includes what the community standard is , what common practices taken by nearby substantially similar casino properties are in place as compared to your property . This also includes any policies and procedures designed for safety and security ( self-imposed standards ) at your property . The security director should determine if security personnel are complying with any written violent crime prevention policies and procedures .
Every security director or manager should know what their nearby counterparts are doing as it relates to security measures . This is accomplished through the establishment of communications with competitor property security directors to the security director actually walking competitor casino floors and parking areas , and comparing them to yours .
As an example , if your property does not have a full-time outside patrol vehicle and your five nearest casino properties do , you could have difficulty establishing that you did what was reasonable in the event of a parking lot robbery . Perps most likely know what the security deficiencies are at your property , and if they believe the reward outweighs the risk .
What is Your Crime Risk ?
There are companies that perform crime risk assessments by analyzing police call data and police reports . Security directors can do it themselves depending on their experience and background , but it can be time-consuming . In almost every civil lawsuit , police data is an important piece of evidence that can impact a jury one way or another .
If you want to know what your violent crime risk is , a historical record from your local police department can be helpful as a starting point . The local crime prevention office can provide a history of police calls , or “ calls for service ,” that identify why the police were called to a specific address and basic disposition of the call .
Although these summaries do not give sufficient details of each crime , it is a good starting point to measure if your property is experiencing any violent crime calls to the police or if they are increasing or decreasing in time . Specific data on the relationship between the victim and offender is also useful to determine if a violent crime was interpersonal or committed by a stranger . This can be obtained through a freedom-of-information request .
Many casino properties have a police department liaison that can get more specific data on violent crimes occurring anywhere on your property . This valuable resource can also assist in more situational crime prevention programs such as robbery prevention . If a property is experiencing robberies of customers in their parking lot , additional patrols , escorts of customers to their cars , increased lighting , additional surveillance cameras , stepped-up camera patrols by surveillance , and warning signs will all have some deterrent value .
Once you have the police call data , you can pull those calls that are most likely violent crimes and then compare them to the security or surveillance department proprietary property incident reports . It is not uncommon that people will file a police report at the station claiming they were
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