Tourism safety conference set for LV

Friday, May 11, 2001 | 11:12 a.m.

Police and security officers from the world's playgrounds will be in Las Vegas this month to hear experts discuss how to keep visitors safe.

More than 200 people are scheduled to attend the 10th annual Tourism Safety and Security Conference Monday through Wednesday at the Monte Carlo hotel-casino.

The event is sponsored by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department and the Las Vegas Security Chiefs Association. Donald Ahl, the chief of security for the Las Vegas Convention Center, is coordinating the event.

"We're seeing a growing number of law enforcement and security officers from tourism centers from all over the world registering for this event," said Susan Orr of the LVCVA.

Among the registrants are park police from the Statue of Liberty National Monument, security personnel from Hoover Dam and seven police officers from Detroit, a city that approved gambling and opened casinos in 1999.

Other conference attendees will come from Orlando and Orange County, Fla.; Anaheim, Calif.; Hawaii; Branson, Mo.; Fiji; Guam and Ontario.

Conference speakers will cover a wide range of tourism safety topics, many of them addressing special challenges in accommodating foreign visitors.

Keynote speakers will include Raymond W. Kelly, senior marketing director of Bear Stearns Investment Bank and global head of corporate security; Charles M Ramsey, chief of police of the Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police Department; and Sgt. J. Greg Peters of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

Also scheduled to address the conference are Jeffrey K. Beatty, Total Security Services, who will discuss international terrorism and biochemical weapons; Richard Rasmussen of the FBI, who will discuss the bureau's role in policing the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City next February; and Peter B. Carlisle, a prosecuting attorney for the City of Honolulu, who will discuss prosecution strategies for crimes against tourists.

Two Las Vegas experts also are on the conference agenda. Lt. Larry Spinosa of Metro will address tourism safety in an international resort industry and Kyle Edwards, security director of the MGM Grand and a retired deputy chief of Metro, will discuss hotel security issues.

Orr said there has been increased interest in Las Vegas on security issues involving the 2002 Winter Olympics because Las Vegas is expected to become "a sort of bedroom community" for the event. Because Salt Lake City and surrounding communities aren't expected to be able to accommodate all the visitors who plan to attend the three weeks of international winter sports competitions, some visitors will stay in Las Vegas and make the one-hour flight to Utah venues to attend events.