CASS LAKE, Minn. – They may be the first casino employees that eager visitors see upon entering; they may be the last employees seen by disruptive customers escorted out the door.
The role of the security staff at any gaming operation – whether at a small bingo hall or a large gaming-entertainment complex – can call for skills ranging from the investigative techniques of law enforcement officers to the friendly finesse of public relations personnel.
Training for that broad scope is the goal of a new program through Leech Lake Tribal College. The gaming security academy, perhaps the only such program from a tribal college, partners the college and Northern Lights Casino, Hotel & Events Center, also run by the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe.
The security program, conducted on-site at Northern Lights, has three levels for students, each resulting in a certificate. Students finishing all three tracks will end with more than 200 hours of training.
The academy recently received a $121,468 grant from the Minnesota Jobs Skills Partnership. Northern Lights Casino is contributing more than $165,000 in cash and in-kind services to aid the project, intended to train about 77 security officers, supervisors and managers for Leech Lake gaming.
”The training program is meant to create a professional atmosphere in casino security,” said Matt Stiehm, a former law enforcement officer and an instructor for the new academy. ”Casinos are just like colleges or any large business; it is essentially a city within a city.”
The 419 gaming operations within Indian country generate $25.1 billion in revenue annually, according to Shawn Pensoneau, director of Congressional and Public Affairs for the National Indian Gaming Commission.
That amount of money, and the number of people coming to those facilities, creates a great need for trained security staff. Some gaming operations enlist local law enforcement to help or have specialized training. Many, however, hire staff without specific security training.
”We have to work 24/8 while the criminals work 24/7,” said George Goggleye Sr., a member of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe and director of security for the band’s three gaming operations: Northern Lights, Palace Casino & Hotel and the modest White Oak Casino.
”We’ve just been hiring off the street, so to speak – people without hardly any background in security,” Goggleye said. ”We just never really had a need for that type of thing up here. [Now] it’s the same thing as Las Vegas or Atlantic City, the scamming and attempted cheating. … We all had some training; we just felt the need to train more. We look to accomplish two things: professionalism and retention.”
The program has certified its first eight students in the Security Officer I program. Once past this developmental stage, the intention is eventually to open the program to other gaming operations. The program includes certification as Security Officer I (line officers), Security II (investigators) and Security III (supervisors).
Feedback from these first students has been positive, said Jennifer Garbow, director of the college’s Center for Career Development. ”This is one of the most innovative projects that exists between a two-year tribal college and a casino for training security staff.”
Plans already are in the works to train staff at the remaining two Leech Lake gaming establishments and perhaps further expansion.
”We also see the Leech Lake Reservation becoming an integral resource for the nation in the area of Indian gaming security,” Dan McElroy, commissioner of Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development commissioner and chairman of the Minnesota Jobs Skills Partnership, said in announcing the recent grant.
”Training is a God-sent,” said John Guerber, a St. Paul-based field investigator for the National Indian Gaming Commission. He said that security officers in gaming operations may take on everything from uncovering robbery and fraud attempts (external or internal) to breaking up disputes, to simply advising inquiring customers about regional attractions.
Savvy gaming security staff can help on wider concerns, according to Guerber, who cited a recent example when the staff at a Minnesota casino helped to catch a counterfeiter. That was possible because the casinos’ security operation keep in contact with each other, he added.
The Leech Lake Tribal College program teaches, among other skills, ethics and professional demeanor, the most effective way to conduct an interview or interrogation of a suspect (and how to recognize if someone is lying), self-defense and how and when to use force, counterfeiting, testifying, leadership and discipline, and public relations.
