Industry Focus
Are We All in on Security
- By Ralph C. Jensen
- Nov 01, 2017
I suppose it’s only a matter of time before
another obscene, violent act will make
headlines across the world. I do not
wish for this, but these days it seems to
be one wave after another. Is there any
amount of security that can stop a random
act of violence?
The latest, at least at the time of this writing,
is Las Vegas.
As with any media organization, the Security
Today team went to our website to list
the latest updates and conduct our own interviews
with security experts. Some experts
were not allowed to go on the record about
best security practices but firmly held that an
incident like this, at a large Las Vegas music
venue, could not have been stopped.
I stopped and wondered how something
like this might be prevented.
Well-known Las Vegas developer and billionaire
Steve Wynn said his Wynn Resorts
Ltd. has a policy of checking in on hotel
guests who don’t leave their rooms and ask
not to be disturbed for more than 12 consecutive
hours.
Whether or not that “do not disturb” policy
would have prevented Mandalay Bay officials
from discovering what was happening
we may never know, but surely it would have
been a good effort. Some years ago while
staying in a San Francisco hotel, I fell very
ill, and on the second morning, the hotel
staff checked in on me, brought some soup
and scheduled a doctor’s visit nearby.
It made a difference in my case. With this
situation, and in Las Vegas, who knows?
The Las Vegas gunman was known to
some of the Wynn staff, and they describe
his actions as stunning and unexpected.
Boyd Gaming officials would not speak
to the fact if the gunman had been a customer
of theirs, but did say, “As far as security—
we have robust security in place, but are
reviewing and heightening security measures
as necessary.”
Security is a big deal in Las Vegas. Wynn
said he began studying how he could make
his properties more secure for guests in 2015.
He said there are security staff members
located throughout the properties, in every
conceivable place, observing people. The entire
workforce from housekeeping to room
service and people in the tower were trained
to observe to identify and pre-empt any kind
of terroristic or violent action. As for the “do
not disturb” policy:
“We certainly wouldn’t invade the privacy
of a guest in room. But let’s put it this
way: The scenario that we’re aware of would
have indicated that he didn’t let anyone in the
room for two or three days. That would have
triggered a whole bunch of alarms here and
we would have, on behalf of the guest, of
course, investigated for safety and it would
have been a provocative situation.”
Does this come down to having hotels
guests and their luggage being screened? Possible,
I suppose, but it seems impractical that
metal detectors would be deployed at hotel
entrances. However, terrorism is very much
on the mind of every casino/hotel owner, so
it will be interesting to see what changes are
implemented from here on out.
It all boils down to this: “If you see something,
say something.”
This article originally appeared in the November 2017 issue of Security Today.
About the Author
Ralph C. Jensen is the Publisher/Editor in chief of Security Today magazine.