Conference addresses bill that targets criminals who prey on tourists

Friday, May 18, 2001 | 11:03 a.m.

Nevada legislation that would enable court testimony by videoconference or closed-circuit television should help law enforcement agencies battle crime against tourists.

Senate Bill 32, unanimously approved by both houses of the Nevada Legislature, was sent to Gov. Kenny Guinn late last week.

The bill would allow testimony by "audiovisual technology" for witnesses residing more than 500 miles from the "place of a preliminary examination," the proposal says.

If the proposal becomes law as expected, it would give law enforcement officials in Las Vegas a new weapon against thieves who prey on the city's visitors.

The law was one of the updates involving tourism safety and security aired in a three-day conference on tourism safety and security in Las Vegas this week.

More than 200 people attended the 10th annual Tourism Safety & Security Conference sponsored by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority and the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (Metro).

Larry Spinosa, a lieutenant with Metro, outlined the different methods law enforcement agencies that serve tourism centers use in their efforts to keep visitors safe.

Spinosa said one of the biggest problems law enforcement agencies face when working to solve theft cases is getting witnesses to testify against suspected thieves.

"It's pretty much a standard policy to go to the expense of bringing in a witness in an assault or a crime against a person," Spinosa said. "But we haven't been able to do that with crimes against property, and the criminals know that."

But now, prosecutors will be able to get the testimony they need via teleconference on property crimes.

Spinosa said that legislation would help in the crime battle. With the proposal all but signed into law, Spinosa said law enforcement agency lobbyists would work to draft legislation similar to a law that has been enacted in Florida. The Sunshine State has a law in effect that makes any theft from a tourist a felony crime, despite the dollar value of the stolen goods, ensuring that convicted thieves are penalized more than they would have had they been convicted of a misdemeanor.

Spinosa also shared other strategies Metro has in keeping guests safe.

Videos, some starring Las Vegas entertainers like illusionist Lance Burton, appeal to visitors to use common sense to protect themselves against thieves. The videos are being shown on hotel cable television channels.

Spinosa said the not-so-subtle messages to tourists is to take precautions because a sophisticated breed of criminal is working to take their valuables.

A demonstration of the work of sleight-of-hand thieves, con artists, pickpockets at work and their distraction techniques was shown by Spinosa in a videotape of an ABC News "20/20" segment that showed casino surveillance video.

Most thieves use an element of distraction, such as tossing coins on the floor near a slot machine played by a targeted victim, to get away with a wallet, a purse or a bucket of coins.

While law enforcement officials have to deal with reported crimes, hotel security officers encourage safety on their properties every day.

Kyle Edwards, director of MGM MIRAGE Corporate Security, told people attending the conference that Las Vegas' explosive growth in the past decade has made the job of keeping guests safe a bigger challenge.

"It used to be that there would be a boxing event or a concert every few months," Edwards said. "Now, there's some kind of an event every 45 minutes."

Corporate security spends much of its time conducting background checks on prospective employees, since the people they hire face even greater scrutiny from state gaming regulators.

Properties under the MGM MIRAGE banner have about 45,000 employees, all of whom have had background checks performed. Another 25,000 applicants a year also are checked, Edwards said. Corporate security officials also conduct internal investigations, particularly when employees are accused of thefts or cheating in casinos.

Edwards said security officers use teamwork, technology and trust to protect the 36 million visitors who come to Las Vegas in a year.

Las Vegas security chiefs meet monthly to discuss common problems and try to head off criminals who take their thievery from property to property. They also share information through a network of fax machines that disseminates information on crime quickly. That's how security officers are alerted with descriptions of suspects and their getaway cars minutes after a casino robbery occurs.

But sharing information hasn't always been commonplace -- and that's where trust comes in, Edwards said. Las Vegas security officers are encouraging other resort cities to adopt the model of cooperation in place among Southern Nevada resorts.

Sheriff Jerry Keller, who wasn't one of the conference speakers, but greeted security officers from around the globe who attended the event, said many resort cities look to Las Vegas for expertise since the city has developed many innovative safety and security programs.

Keller said safety and security matters have gotten high-priority treatment because of the consequences of failure -- a point made by two conference speakers in Tuesday's session.

Ray Wood, director of loss prevention for Marriott Vacation Club in Orlando, Fla., said good media relations are critical to police and security agencies because even the perception of a crime problem can drive tourists away.

Wood cited the state of Florida, which suffered a 30 percent downturn in tourism from 1993 to 1994 in the wake of several high-profile crimes against tourists.

Charles Ramsey, chief of police of the Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police Department and the conference's keynote speaker, echoed the importance of media rapport and the perception of safety.

Ramsey and Wood said crime problems in large tourist attractions naturally result in big headlines because visitors naturally assume they are safe and often aren't as careful as they are when they're at home.

Sometimes public perceptions and how they are portrayed in the media are subtle. Wood said that Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority media consultant Billy Vassiliadis encouraged local officials to change the name of an investigatory group from Tourist Crime Unit to Tourist Safety Unit because the former name implied that "there already was a crime problem."

Ramsey said an incorrect perception can damage a city's tourism industry.

"No one advocates deception and we're always honest with the media," Ramsey said. "But we also put things in perspective," and there are times when the media blow an event out of proportion.

Wood said television is a powerful medium and even fictional TV shows leave an impression on viewers about the relative safety of a city.

"There are people out there who won't visit South Florida because everything they know about it they saw on 'Miami Vice,' " Wood said.

He said the jury is still out on how a new popular television program -- "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," a crime drama set in Las Vegas -- will affect visitors' perceptions of crime in Southern Nevada.

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