Employees of a surveillance room must be alert and attentive at all times with their focus facing outward. When focus is diverted to the surveillance room and the employees inside, trouble ensues. Political games and other foolishness may occur with the casino floor being neglected.
Where to Keep the Focus
Employees of the surveillance room should always be watching games, cages, slots, count rooms, pits, change booths as well as monitoring all activities of security. The only reason an operator should be focused on the surveillance room is to monitor equipment to ensure it is working correctly. This includes ensuring that logging and reporting are completely correctly.
This is a shared responsibility between operators and the Director of Surveillance. In addition to camera coverage, the director is primarily focused on scheduling, equipment repairs and the addition of any equipment.
Higher Management
Despite these responsibilities, supervisors and directors must maintain an outward focus as well. They must act as a connection between the security, cage, slot and pit departments. Also, they must keep in constant communication with casino management to ensure a smooth transfer of information.
Common Inward Focuses
Within a surveillance room there are many distractions and inward focuses that can occur. Some of these include, others in the surveillance room, rivalries between individuals and departments, internal concerns and others on different shifts. Meanwhile surveillance of the casino floor and coverage areas is neglected.
Errors that may occur during this transfer of focus include, a lack of tap rewinding and missing tape entries into the log. Major errors include, cameras being left off of a specific game and incorrect information being communicated to co-workers and superiors.
Handling These Issues
The best response to these errors is to fix them and move on, not waste time tracking who made the blunder. Many managers opt to send out a general notice or memo to the staff regarding the issue at hand. A heavy internal investigation is usually not needed. A memo can be just as effective while continuing to keep the department focused on the gaming floor.
Like any work area, there are distractions. However, in the casino industry, these distractions and mistakes could cause major liabilities and cost significantly more than just lost productivity. Therefore, keeping your attention in the correct places not only helps you with an excellent review, but also significantly helps the casino.
