The Exciting Job of Casino Security!

The excitement of a casino during a busy weekend or an event is one of the greatest things you have experienced. People everywhere having a good time. Cocktail waitresses in little outfits, women throwing themselves at strange men and fights. When the fight starts security runs in and takes control of the situation. The fight is broken up, patrons are handcuffed and dragged to a back room while screaming obscenities that would make a sailor blush.

You're in good shape and have been know to handle yourself in a fight or two. You're clean cut and not afraid of anything! Maybe the job of casino security is the excitement that seems to be missing in your life. You go home, pack up your things and move to a gambling town with the intent to get a job in casino security! You can't wait to begin cuffing people and throwing them out. You know they are just waiting for you to be their hero.....and then there's the reality.

Once you move to the town of your choice and finally find a place to live near the downtown area it's time to start applying to all the places you would love to work. Big casino's and smaller casino's. You might even decide to be the hero of the much smaller casino's in the area. You know they will make it worth your time. So you fill out the applications and wait. Sometimes you get an interview the same day and sometimes you don't. But when you do get that interview you're ready until they want your blood, your urine and even a snip of your hair.

Your criminal background will be checked before you are allowed to apply for a gaming card giving you permission to work anywhere that deals with money and gambling. Not to mention you have to be 21 years of age or older. You first test is being able to read and write without help. This is not a job for the illiterate because if you get the job there will be lots and lots of paperwork. That's right, you'll have more to do than just walk around and look good.

Your next test will determine if you'll get any kind of a job in a casino. The drug test. Most do a urine test and some do a hair test that goes as far back as far as seven years. If you have done any kind of drugs or have a felony you won't be hired. It's as simple as that. If you are going to work with large amounts of money then you have to have a clean record.

Next comes the interview. You will need to be clean cut and no visible tattoos. Most casino's do not allow employee's to have visible tattoo's so cover them up or don't get them at all. Hair short for men, held back and in place for women. Good hygiene is a must for security work for your own health and safety. No colorful hair, unusual makeup or piercing's.

If you can read and write then expect to be able to speak clearly and to understand others when they speak to you. A big part of your job will be how well you can communicate. You have to take orders and respond clearly that you understand what you are to do when told to do it! If you are not "into" taking orders then leave now. Taking orders from those in charge without questions can save your life and that of other guest in the casino.

There is a lot more to the job than walking around waiting for a fight to breakout. You will also have to respond to medical emergencies. You must be trained in first aid and many places will require you to have first responder training. You will deal with everything from a cut finger to a heart attack to drug overdose and seizures. You can't be asking advise of the people standing around you. You have to know enough to take charge and make quick decisions.

Now for the part of the job you didn't think about. You will spend hours walking the floor looking for anything out of the norm. It can get very boring. If anything appears wrong you will have to know what to do and who to call. Sometimes it will be something you can take care of and sometimes you will have to call another department. You will check countless identification's. You cannot flirt with other employee's or the customers. You have a job to do even if it is putting you to sleep.

After any incident you will have to fill out a report. On a slow night you might only fill out one or two. On a busy night you will fill out lots of reports. They must be accurate and contain only the information of what happened. Not your point of view! You do not add what you think the other person was going to do or what they were thinking. This is where the saying "only the facts" is your key to a good report. You will also be responsible for log times, records of lost and found various paperwork regarding the job.

If you are in dispatch you will be watching camera's, radioing information to other officers, logging in breaks, location of officers, lunch times, lost and found, employee problems, phone calls from guest, outside sources and emergency request. You will have to be able to juggle several jobs at once when something big happens. If it gets slow other departments will bring work for you to do during the down times.

Many times you will respond to calls with another officer, but if you are the first to arrive at a call you may have to make the decision for handling it alone. You may not be afraid to go into the middle of a fight, but there are worse things to fear. You could be responding to a rape, mugging, stabbing, murder, suicide or other medical emergency involving blood, drugs or unknown substances. You might be responding alone to a scream and not know what you are going to find at the other end. Be ready and don't be too sure you are brave enough to handle anything. There will be times when you are scared.

Now we'll learn what to expect. Most of the time you can count on the unexpected. There will be fights on the dance floor and you will respond in pairs or as a group. Know your own job and let the others do their job. Know before you go into the middle of a fight where each officer is to go and who your partner is. After a few times you'll learn who your back up is with just a glance and a few hand signals. Watch the fighters and watch for weapon's.

When you go into a fight it may be between two males, two females or one of each. Be very careful when females are involved. They are much more unpredictable than males in a fight and you could get hit by the heel of a shoe if you aren't watching. You're no good to anyone if you are lying on the dance floor getting trampled! Watch for pepper spray. Lots of people carry it with them and will use it to gain an edge. Stay out of the way of the spray and weapons.

Your next call will be to another bar. When you arrive you find a man passed out. He's been drinking heavy so he may just be drunk. Maybe he died sitting on the stool gambling and then you notice the smell. Whiskey and human waste. It's all over the stool and floor. He was too drunk to go to the restroom so he made his own right where you stand. This is a bio clean. If he is not waking then you will have to call an ambulance.

Next is a naked person in the hall of the fourth floor. When you arrive it is a sixty year old male knocking on doors because he is locked out of his own room. You have to radio for authorization to open the door and he has to lead you to positive identification before he can cover himself or you can leave. Why? It may not be his room and this is a great plan for theft!

Your next call is a code blue. You have to run on this one because it's a possible robbery at the main cage where they keep the money. Everyone working the floor responds carefully. You don't know if there is a weapon involved or not. You arrive just in time to see the cashier with her hands up. No screaming and running at the robber. Very quietly with your backup you enter from each side and do a take down and hopefully no one ends up getting shot. The other option is to let him leave and let the police handle it. This is to assure the safety of other guest.

As you turn around you see a male in his late thirties stab one of the roaming cashiers. He cuts her cash belt as he pulls the knife from her back. She screams and goes to the floor. You call a code red with a description and location and pursue the attacker. Why didn't you help the cashier? Because before the shift began it was decided in a robbery situation with injuries who would chase and who would give medical care.

When you return to the office there is a notice of known prostitutes in the area with identifying pictures. Almost half are male. This surprises you? It shouldn't because most are drug users and this is the quickest, easiest way to make a buck for that next hit. You will know a lot of them by sight from having had to throw them off property many times before. They are not beautiful or good looking, most of them look like they are days away from death and are riddled with infections of all kinds. It is a sad life with the only escape in a coffin. Do not use these people if you don't want to catch something deadly.

You will also deal with suicide's jumping from roof tops, in front of trains, overdosing on drugs, slit wrist, poison ingestion or at the hands of their friends. You will deal with homeless people with mental problems and ex cons still trying to con everyone they meet. You will deal with people that are suddenly getting divorced, beaten, pushed out windows, trying alcohol for the first time, looking for trouble, getting robbed, passing out, having seizures, pissing their pants because they are on a roll and don't want to move or running from aliens.

You will deal with a star's with big ego, senators with a secret male lover of his own, children being abused, children being left behind and children being killed. There will be fires, earthquakes, scared people, people stuck in elevators, underage gamblers, fighters out to prove they are tougher than you, mental cases trying to kill themselves by running into traffic and dragging you with them. You will watch normal people die, normal people do a stripe tease, normal people dress as another gender.

There will be blood, beer and lots of dirt. Tired truckers trying to sleep while the couple in the next room fight, women fighting over a husband, men fighting over other men, men fighting over their favorite dress and the locale's who all think you are their friend and will get them out of any trouble. There will be drug dealers with guns, drug dealers with nasty sores and buyers willing to do anything for just one more hit. There will be gamblers losing life savings, gamblers hocking the family car and gamblers giving up the family jewels until the wife catches him. Then you are back to dealing with murder.

There will be events when you work long hours with little time for eating. Too many people trying to be in one place at once and all of them expect you to fix it or die. Events with thugs, low riders, classic cars, bikers and of course the ever wonderful gay pride parade. There will be name calling, slapping and beatings until death. You will see lots of exciting things but you will also witness stuff that will make you sick. It will make you sad to be a part of the human race. It will make you finally question your own sick quest into the under belly of society.

The benefits are good, the pay is low and the job is boring, exciting, dangerous and frightening. If you can get past all of this then you are ready. You'll love parts of the job, but it's a world different from the day to day of a non gambling town. You have to be careful and emotionally strong or you'll find yourself getting pulled into the lifestyle. You'll find yourself doing things you would have never done before. You can ruin your life, your health and relationships.

For anyone considering security work in a casino I can tell you it's great work as long as you keep yourself out of the lifestyle. There are a lot of times when it's slow and many times when it's very exciting. You have to learn to detach emotionally to survive long term and remember it's a fantasy, not reality. Casino's sell a dream, they promise riches and fun and secret lives. You are there to do a job and do it well. Don't try to become a part of the fantasy and you'll love the job.