Megaresorts advised to prepare for terror

David Strow

Friday, Dec. 7, 2001 | 11:08 a.m.

Las Vegas casinos have been thinking a lot more about emergency plans following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11.

Richard Perkins, speaker of the Nevada Assembly, wants the casinos to share those plans with the state. On Thursday he told dozens of casino security officials from across the country he plans to introduce a bill in 2003 that would make the casinos do just that.

Most casinos already have such plans on file, Perkins said. Providing those plans to the state would make the jobs of emergency personnel easier in a crisis, he said.

"We're not reinventing the wheel," Perkins said. "We're just polishing it up a bit."

Perkins said he envisions the law applying to all resort casinos -- defined by state law as any hotel-casino with more than 200 hotel rooms.

And he made it clear that the last thing hotel-casinos can do in these times is downplay the possibility Las Vegas might be a target of the terrorists.

"We must prepare for the horrible possibility one of our megaresorts will be targeted by terrorists," Perkins said. "To ignore the fact Las Vegas represents an attractive target will make us unprepared and vulnerable. It is critical we prepare. When we prepare, we may be able to prevent."

Though his proposed law was prompted by the attacks of Sept. 11, Perkins said the plans would not have to be terrorist-specific. Plans could be providing showing the steps taken in a hotel evacuation, whether it was the result of a fire, an earthquake, or a bioterrorism scare.

Beyond that general idea, "I don't want to have the state tell you how to do your business," Perkins said. "You know how to do your business better than the state does. I would prefer that the industry set its own standards."

Perkins, a Henderson Police deputy chief, spoke at "Casino Security in Turbulent Times," a one-day seminar held at the Orleans hotel-casino Thursday.

Before Perkins took the stage, casino security executives talked about the new challenges they faced following the Sept. 11 attacks, from how to guard valet parking to what to do about unattended packages.

What hotel-casinos do to allay public concerns about safety is just as important as what they do to prevent terrorism and other crime, said Lt. Larry Spinosa of Metro Police's tourist safety and crime division.

Spinosa pointed to the experience of Miami, which had a crime wave aimed at tourists in 1993 and 1994. The crime wave led to a two-thirds reduction in tourism.

"We don't want to see that happen here. We can't afford it," Spinosa said.

An example of a step taken to ease public concerns is an increased security presence in the valet parking areas.

Security cameras still remain far more important, said Tropicana surveillance director Keith Michaels -- when the valet parking area becomes crowded, cameras can see where security guards can't.

"The additional security is just there to give the public the impression that it's still safe to come here," Michaels said. "It's still the same, safe place it was for years."

But the additional security guards can come in handy. Several weeks ago, a man came to the front desk of the Tropicana and asked if he could check his bag there. When the front desk clerks refused, the man dumped the bag there and ran toward the front entrance. Attached to the bag was a note claiming it contained a bomb, and the incident led to the casino's evacuation.

Since there were security guards at the entrance, the Tropicana was immediately able to put the man into custody. The quick arrest of the man shows that increased awareness by all casino employees is paying off, Michaels said.

"In the past, I can guarantee you the call that someone had left a bag at the front desk (unattended) would not have been made for about five minutes," Michaels said. "An elevated awareness of what was going on led to the capture of this individual."

Baggage represents a threat to casinos. But casinos don't have the same option airports do, said Frank Luizzo, director of security and risk management at the Palms.

"When an individual checks in, you don't want to search through their luggage," Luizzo said. "People bring very strange things to a resort in Las Vegas that could be embarrassing. It just isn't done."

The only solution for a casino, Luizzo said, is to put a camera on a guest who appears questionable.

"If anything strange happens in their room, you have a starting point (with video)," Luizzo said.

These days, most people think of bombs or anthrax as possible threats that could be smuggled into a casino through luggage. But there's another very real threat that has nothing to do with terrorism, Spinosa said.

"Instead of TNT, he has all the makings of a portable (methamphetamine) lab," Spinosa said. "That's a big thing now."

Besides being illegal, a meth lab can be just as dangerous as a bomb.

"It's highly volatile, and can cause a huge explosion," Spinosa said.

On the casino floor, biological hazards are also a concern. But there's more to it than bioterrorism fears. With dangerous diseases like hepatitis B and AIDS, "biohazards are being an issue," Luizzo said. That means security must be ready to roll if there's contamination on the casino floor or in a hotel room by bodily fluids, such as blood or vomit, he said -- and that a casino must have an action plan to deal with such incidents.

The Palms is working on developing several rapid response biohazard units, "Rubbermaid trash cans on wheels, with everything you need to deal with a biohazard on the floor."

"Security can grab that cart quickly and get to the floor quickly," Luizzo said.

With so many hazards to deal with, it's certainly become a different world for security personnel in Las Vegas.

"We're not just a bunch of security guards walking around looking to break up fights anymore," Luizzo said. "These days it is the department that expects to deal with the unexpected."