Error: template '/header.txt' not found

Error: template '/sidebar.txt' not found

Feature Rob Wiser

High Alert
Las Vegas enhances security, reassures visitors

Las Vegas has managed to rebound strongly since the September 11 terror attacks, though it has been an uphill struggle—one in which the house, uncharacteristically, has not had the edge. In a town literally built around tourism, with 46 percent of its visitors arriving via airplane, the fear of air travel spawned by the attacks has had a severe impact on its economy.

But as weeks pass, America’s favorite playground finds itself slowly but assuredly returning to business as usual. Hotel occupancy rates have reclaimed near-normal levels and McCarran International Airport bustles once again with activity. Longtime visitors have returned to pack casinos and showrooms, as throngs of newcomers arrive to take advantage of the discounts being offered.

And while security is now an issue of paramount importance for every American city, in Las Vegas the stakes are especially high. With the specter of terrorism now a fact of life, people are far less likely to leave home, board planes, and stay at its hotel-casinos unless they feel safe and comfortable doing so.

Las Vegas has met these concerns with sweeping new security campaigns, designed to not only safeguard against threats, but to assuage the fears, both real and imagined, of its millions of guests. Fortunately, when it comes to security, its casinos were off to a phenomenal headstart long before September 11: the properties along its world-famous Strip have always been veritable fortresses of surveillance and security, monitored by endless banks of “Eye in the Sky” cameras and security fleets that outnumber Nevada law enforcement officers 10-to-1. Quite simply, this is one of the last areas in the country where anyone’s going to skulk around undetected.

Now, with every one of these cameras and guards on high alert, and new cutting-edge measures and safeguards being installed, visitors can feel safer than ever.

Erika Brandvik of the LVCVA (Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority), which has been working with the casinos to evaluate and implement new security measures, calls Las Vegas “one of the safest cities that you can be in,” since “anytime you have a whole lot of money in any one place, security is going to be a big priority.”

Brandvik also notes that while the casinos have publicized certain aspects of their stepped-up security, other efforts have not been disclosed. “We don’t want to be publicizing what we’re doing, to (allow) people to figure out ways to work around it…but the bottom line is, everyone is working together from a high level on down, to make sure that we’re on the lookout for the right things.”

Alan Feldman, spokesman for the MGM-Mirage Corporation, said his company has implemented a preplanned heightened security program, just as it did a decade ago during the Gulf War. The plan involves security officers stopping and checking cars entering parking areas, both valet and self-park, while other officers man all entrances to company properties. In addition, all mail and luggage going into or out of MGM-Mirage properties faces greater scrutiny.

Other properties on the Strip have embarked on heightened security campaigns that range from the invisible (routing all personal deliveries and FedEx/UPS packages through their mail rooms), to the aggressive (stopping suspicious persons to ask for identification).

“It helps reassure the public to see officers in a calm and professional manner,” Feldman says. “And a calm and professional manner is what’s appropriate now.”

MORE >

To read Casino Player in its entirety CLICK HERE to subscribe.

Error: template '/footer.txt' not found