ONLINE TRAINING COURSES FOR SURVEILLANCE OPERATORS

One thing that I have come to realise is that there is a lot of focus on new CCTV technologies. There are plenty of websites, blogs and companies involved in the installation and manufacture of CCTV systems. This is all very understandable but the system is only as good as the operator. In relation, I have found very few resources for CCTV operators and most of what is available tends towards management or directors.

In terms of surveillance training, there is also very little available, in particular online. Most training in itself is in house, and as we all know, the quality of in house training differs from casino to casino. With this in mind, I have been scouring the internet looking for surveillance training facilities and have found a few but, for a lot of us who can’t make it to the USA or UK to attend the schools there, our next best option is the internet in terms of online courses.

Understandably, there is no generic training or qualification which will allow Surveillance managers to measure prospective operators against, but I am sure that most of them do have that concern regarding the level of training when hiring a new operator. Not all surveillance departments have the staffing luxury to properly train new staff and On the Job Training also has its limitations.

One aspect which quickly became very clear when I started working on cruise ships, is the level of exposure and skills needed. Back in South Africa, by gaming law, operators are not allowed to get involved in the technical side of the operations as much as surveillance technicians are not allowed to be used as operators. On coming to the ships, I learnt new skills in terms of installing and removing cameras, basic VCR repairs/trouble shooting, etc. I reached a stage where I realised that although my technical skills would never rival that of a technicians, I still needed to improve my understanding of the technical aspect of CCTV.

So, once again, back to Google…

I found what appeared to be a fantastic course in the UK, offered by TAVCOM, however, in terms of pricing, that was a little out of my budget. After gaining membership with ASIS International, I was digging through their course offerings when I found an online course for CCTV & Digital Video offered by STAM. The contents of the course seemed comprehensive and the reviews (which I am always sceptical about) seemed positive.

The price range seemed right and they offered discount if you registered for more courses at the same time. Great! First problem I encountered was that when activating the link to the STAM site, there was a discrepancy in pricing. This is usual indicative of lack of site maintenance. On further browsing I was sent to the new STAM Interactive site (www.staminteractive.com), which seemed like the new look site. Fair enough, but here the pricing and discounts offered also seemed a little different to what was advertised by ASIS and by the previous site.

By this stage I was not too keen on applying for more than one course due to all the various pricings. I tried to register for the CCTV & Digital Video and after completing the online form I was given an error message indicating that I had to talk to a sales person. After my third attempt to complete and submit the form I got a tad bit irritated and emailed the contact address.

A few days later, I got a call from a very helpful and concerned sales person and within 10 minutes I was registered for the course, money deducted and all the necessary passwords and usernames issued. The student is also given a 30 day license with the option of extending the license.

The course which I registered for, CCTV & Digital Video, is not going to turn me into a technician. The objective of this course is educating operators, sales persons, etc on the technical aspect of CCTV systems and to give them a greater understanding and awareness of what is involved.

Logging on and getting set up was simplicity itself. The layout, format and presentation of the course are very user friendly and simple. I went through my first modules; Wired vs. Wireless, CCTV Components, Analogue/Hybrid/Digital systems, Scanning and Lighting. Each module comprises of a page, with audio information, diagrams and text. It is all laid out in an easy to understand format. On clicking on various diagrams, further explanations are offered. What I found very useful was that each diagram from the Analogue/Hybrid/Digital systems modules clearly explained the start and finish process – from camera to end user. What was lacking, so far, in my opinion is a more serious look at the disadvantages/weakness of digital systems. It seemed to be hailed as the panacea of CCTV systems.

So far, the course has reinforced what I already know about CCTV systems but has also increased my understanding and cleared up questions that I had been mulling over. I will continue with the course until its completion and hopefully pass the exam/quizzes. A certificate is issued on achieving a certain grade and that is now my objective.

For those who are interested, I will keep you updated via this blog…

KING ROULETTE SCAM

With this second article from my guest writer, Beyers Rautenbach, we look at another significant slot machine scam which had hit all our casinos pretty hard and was proving to be a mystery. When we heard about this scam, we all took turns watching the area in question hoping to catch the scammers in action, so to speak. Beyers and I were on shift at the time, and because Beyers is a very motivated and self driven person, he was hunting for evidence that would catch these slot cheats. Anyway, here is his account of what went down.


King Roulette

We received information that some guys were conducting fraudulent activities on the King Roulette machines; however we were not aware of what they were actually doing. I started working a Graveyard shift in the camera room and because we were short staffed that night I took over the slots console, after relieving the person working on the said console I began with the normal duties such as target reports/ bill dispute capturing and so on.
It was not long after that when I noticed 2 suspicious black males arrive at the said bank of machines and this I saw because I left a camera view up on my monitor to monitor those machines, the 2 suspects sat next too each other and began to play normal. The one suspect was seen trying to lift the cover that covers the monitor but at that time I did not think much of that, it was only about an hour later that I could pay special attention to them because the gaming area was not so busy.

I took control of a PTZ when I saw them playing there and from that time it could be seen that every now and then the 1 suspect would stand up and cover the monitor and because of that I could not see too much so I then got hold of one of the Table PTZ and zoomed it in into that area. I monitored the suspects further and that is when I saw the monitor switch off every time he would cover the screen.
Upon further investigation I noticed that a piece of wire was protruding from under the cover by the monitor and further to that every time the screen would go off the slots on line monitor showed power off and the power on. I then became very suspicious and after zooming the screen I could see that when the ball landed in a number which was not covered by the guest, he would short the screen out and there fore his credits were re-imbursed to him (so he would not loose). When ever a winning bet was won he would not short the machine out.

The suspects where then apprehended and escorted to the interview room where they denied all allegations to them but never the less based on the coverage and the reports from the system the suspects were arrested. The machine was later inspected and it could be seen where their piece of wire was connected to the other piece, which then was able to short the machine out.

Beyers Rautenbach

All credit to Beyers for this! We found out at some stage, that this cheat method had originated from inland and that they were selling plans and kits for conducting the cheat. So, another money making industry.

TOUCH BET ROULETTE SCAM

For this article, I enlisted the assistance of a friend and former work colleague of mine, Beyers Rautenbach. We worked together as Surveillance Specialists (Shift Managers) at Suncoast Casino. When I left to pursue my career further afield, he stayed behind and was later assigned to the Investigastions Department, where he is definitely proving his worth. Beyers used to be a slots floor supervisor before coming across to Surveillance as a Specialist and indeed, his knowledge of all things Slots proved to be invaluable to the department.

Touch Bet Roulette (TBR) 27/04/2009

I started working in the gaming industry in January 1999 where I was a slots floor attendant, it was not much long after that I was promoted to Slots Floor Supervisor must have been around 2001. In the late part of 2002 I transferred to Durban in the capacity of a Slots Floor Supervisor where I assisted in the installation of 1350 slot machines for Durban’s Casino.

The Installation consisted different types of manufacturers and brands of machines, some of which I have never heard such as, the Touch Bet Roulette machine never the less I was eager to learn and as the days progressed so did the installation.

The Touch Bet Roulette machine in those days consisted of 8 machines a Roulette wheel and obviously the computer (Mother Board). Once all the machines where installed the casino opened up in late November 2002. I was amazed to see how this Touch Bet Roulette (TBR) machine operated and paid a lot of attention to this. These machines needed a dealer to spin the roulette wheel because at this stage it was manual and the dealer would have to manually spin the ball. These machines operated the same as the roulette table; however there were no physical chips involved as it was all computer generated and the punter would place the bets on the screens where after the dealer would spin the ball and the machine would pay the guest for any winnings.

Obviously as all machines have Ram errors and disputes so did the TBR, this would occur whenever the ball was not registered by the optic on the wheel and there fore the number would have to be re-inserted by a senior person. The Slots Shift Manager or Lead Technician would carry an override key and a password which they would then have to open up the computer and re-insert the previous winning number which would then start the game over and the dealer would re spin the ball. Prior to the senior having to re-insert the last winning number, the guests bets would be credited back to them and the machine tilt/error would be attended to. Whilst it was fixed no bets were allowed to be placed as the last winning number would have to be re-inserted and the machine would look for any payments that still had to be made after the previous number is inserted.

I left Slots in January 2004 and joined the Surveillance Department in the capacity of a Surveillance Specialist (Shift Manager), it was not long after that round about May 2004, I picked up on my first Slots scam which happened to be on the TBR machines and luckily for me, I had some knowledge on these machines.

Whilst I was panning around with one of the PTZ cameras on the Slots Floor, I noticed that one of the TBR machine doors were left open and unattended, this to me was unusual because if a door is open, there should be someone either working on the machine or someone attending to a tilt but this was not the case and after checking the entire bank of machines, I noticed one of the technicians busy in the vicinity of the computer and this to me was very suspicious. At first I just called him and asked him to close the door. From that time on I became suspicious and decided to review tapes.

Upon reviewing the tapes I noticed that a guest had called him over and made a claim that something was wrong with the machine, the technician would make as if he fixed the problem and then for some or other reason he proceeded to the computer. Whilst at the computer he instructed all the other guests to cancel their bets as he needed to re-insert the previous winning number at this stage the guest whom he assisted with an alleged problem, would then place bets all over the previous winning number and after the number was inserted the machine would pay the specific guest.

This I noticed happened on numerous occasions that night, never the less I contacted the Investigation department and an investigation was initiated into this suspicious behavior.

After certain reports were drawn it was noticed that this specific guest and technician where in collusion as the guest would only win on those machines when the said technician was on shift and these amounts ranged anything from R 1 500.00 ($ 168) to R 58 000.00 ($ 6 520).

The technician was then apprehended after the investigation proved that they were in collusion together and questioned by investigations. The technician confirmed all the allegation presented to him and was later arrested for fraud.

Beyers Rautenbach

Surveillance Staff career advancement and development - Part 2

Although there are a large number of casinos worldwide, it must be taken into consideration that the relevant surveillance departments tend to have low manning levels. These low staffed departments are generally inherent to the industry and is typical of most CCTV control rooms in terms of manning and staffing levels. With this comes to two headaches; career advancement and career development for surveillance operators.

Career Advancement:

Due to the size of Surveillance departments and their operating shifts, staffing levels are generally low with anything from 3 to 10 operators per shift, depending on the operations and maybe even more in the bigger Macau based casinos.

The smaller the department and, subsequently, the shift; so too are the opportunities for career advancement. It must be considered that everyone has different career needs, some operators are quiet happy to spend their entire working life in front of the monitors and not worrying about anything else, while others need to advance, to be trained or need to be challenged in various ways. That is why a level of advancement is so necessary, because for some, it is a measure of their worth and abilities. Being promoted is seen as a form of recognition and approval by senior management.

Many surveillance departments have entry level positions and the new hires then progresses from this position through to operator, senior operator, shift supervisor and to shift manager. This type of level progression gives those self motivated individuals a series of milestones to achieve and keeps them active. Other surveillance departments only have operators and shift managers, this situation is demoralising for operators as they are reliant on a manager leaving the company. This type of situation gets worse when issues such as affirmative actions and racial proportionality are exercised as by required labour law practices.

One of the hardest issues for an operator to adjust to, when being considered for promotion, is that of seniority. Admittedly the concept and practice of seniority exists in all companies yet, when operators are promoted due to time in service and not on merit, this fosters an atmosphere of resignation where the general thinking is that there is no need to achieve because once you have ‘done the time’ then you get promoted. By following this practise, the potentially good operators are sidelined and motivation, in general, takes a nose dive. Yes, by all means recognise those who are senior but not at the operational expense of the department. Seniority does not equate with experience. And honestly, healthy, ambitious competition between operators is better for the department in any number of ways. I would rather promote someone who has not been with the company for long but has demonstrated the desire to lead, learn and to better themselves and their co-workers than a senior who has shown lack of enthusiasm in developing themselves, others and is reliant on promotion by seniority.

It is also tricky for Department Managers to identify operators for career advancement, just because an operator shows initiative or catches all the cheats, doesn't mean that they are good managers. Department Managers need to have in a place a process through they can identify and promote those who’s motivations, talent and abilities will best advance the department, the operators and their co-workers.

Surveillance Staff career advancement and development - Part 1

Although there are a large number of casinos worldwide, it must be taken into consideration that the relevant surveillance departments tend to have low manning levels. These low staffed departments are generally inherent to the industry and is typical of most CCTV control rooms in terms of manning and staffing levels. With this comes to two headaches; career advancement and career development for surveillance operators.

Career Development: This is where I think that the USA has the greatest advantage in terms of offering opportunities for surveillance staff career development in that there is a constant source of seminars, conferences, workshops and other educational facilities. There is also a wealth of consultants, specialists, trainers and the like who are available to train and contribute to the development of surveillance staff as opposed to other countries where such educational resources are often limited and not in high demand.

With this big positive comes a negative, not all staff members are given the opportunities to attend or to better themselves from this goldmine of knowledge. The reasons are many and varied, such as restrictive training budgets, no staff replacements, costs, no appropriate training policies, etc. Other casinos offer in house training or merely send the surveillance staff to sit in and watch dealer training. This in itself is not the answer; the surveillance operator needs to be trained on a different level than the dealer.

On the staff members’ side, many do not have the ambition or personal motivation to better themselves. They see other long term operators being promoted, who are as ignorant as they are but have time in service, and so the mindset for achieving, self enrichment, adding skills and knowledge is dampened. Yes, the company does contribute towards this with their various policies, in that they don’t encourage staff to better themselves.

Many, many surveillance operators do not have current knowledge of their immediate working environment. They are not aware of issues such as new CCTV technology, new card counting camouflage techniques or where to access online surveillance enrichment courses, etc. Surveillance managers are often perceived as not encouraging and developing an environment where their staff, or rather the staff who are motivated, are able to take advantage of training and learning opportunities.

But, at the end of the day, it all boils down to self initiative and personal motivation and this is where the companies response is so vital, they need to recognise those staff who are attempting to better themselves within the industry. Recognising them can take many forms, such as; allowing them first option with promotions, unique training courses or any other opportunity which will allow them to take advantage of their knowledge and in so doing; this will have a positive impact on the rest of the staff.

CCTV Surveillance and Cruise Ships

One question I get asked regularly is if there is a need for CCTV surveillance on cruise ships?

It must be remembered that the majority of malls, hotels, resorts, casinos, retail stores and public facilities all incorporate a level of CCTV surveillance within their overall security system. Bearing in mind, surveillance is not part of security but an independent system which enhances security and is often integrated with physical security measures. Each surveillance system has their sphere of influence and monitoring objectives, which are laid down as per the relevant requirements, restrictions and legal policies.

With this in mind, a cruise ship; and we are talking a decent sized cruise ship with an average of 1 000 crew and 2 500 – 3 000 guests, is a physical entity of a limited size which incorporates restaurants, retail areas, recreational areas, generally a casino, guest accommodation and other critical areas such as the engine room and bridge. Now, if you consider the need for CCTV surveillance on a land based structure, such as a mall, then you will appreciate that having all these various facilities forced into an area the size of the ship would necessitate the need for an effective and carefully well laid out and planned CCTV surveillance system.

So, how does it all work?

Hotel: CCTV Surveillance is needed to ensure guest protection and safety at all times. It is a preventative and dynamic measure and monitoring of all ship based facilities allows the cruise line to ensure that everyone has fun without getting hurt. Reviews are conducted for reports of theft, abuse and other security related complaints and Surveillance fulfils a compliance audit function in ensuring that all policies and procedures are adhered to and practiced, in particular, USPH policies and practices. Living and working in such a self contained environment can lead to various health problems if there is a lack of proper health and hygiene practises.

Security: As mentioned, Surveillance assists with all security related incidents and is instrumental in providing an additional layer of security for access control onto and off the ship and to controlled areas. In various ports around the world, monitoring of the external cameras also ensures a proactive approach to ensuring that no suspicious small craft approach too closely. Surveillance onboard compliments and assists shipboard security in their daily tasks being able to provide critical information on developing situations, etc.

Casino, Bars and retail: We all know Surveillance and casinos go hand in hand, so there is no need to explain this further.
Monitoring of retail outlets and bars is another function of shipboard surveillance. Yes, cruise ship retail outlets do experience shrinkage and theft, however, due to various policies, no effective loss and prevention program is in place. Currently, proactive monitoring of the retail areas is the most effective measure of countering any form of stock theft/shrinkage.
The same applies to the bar outlets onboard, active monitoring and reviewing of functions, etc assists in controlling stock losses.

Safety, compliance audits: A prime function of surveillance is the monitoring of safety and coupled with this is compliance audits. The IMO, ISPS and company based safety management systems are all focused on ships’ safety, including crew, guests, material and equipment. Surveillance is in the best position to record and report any breaches in safety or any threats to the ship, crew, guests, material or equipment. This is one of the primary functions of the surveillance operator, to constantly watch and monitor for any safety issues.

All in all, the need for CCTV Surveillance onboard cruise ships is a real need. The only limitations are budget and the senior management motivation to install such a system, bearing in mind that CCTV Surveillance is a loss prevention system and not revenue generating.

How is Surveillance profitable?

This was a question laid to us by the Fleet Surveillance Manager and after taking it to the various groups in LinkedIn and reading all the responses, I found that my opinion of the question was reinforced by what everyone had to say.

At the end of the day, Surveillance or any other retail CCTV operations, is not a profit making or revenue generating department. We are essentially a loss prevention entity, which safeguards assets and ensures minimal to zero loss through proactive monitoring and implementation of various procedures, policies and measures to minimise any form of loss via theft, fraud, cheater activity, etc.

The problem arises in Surveillance and Security are often lumped into the same pot and treated as such. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Each discipline has its own separate paths and operates on two different and distinct levels. To further exacerbate the situation is the lack of awareness and ignorance that other departments have of Surveillance. As far as they are aware, we just sit and ‘watch TV’ while waiting to answer the telephone. Very few senior managers and department heads make the time and effort to educate themselves about Surveillance, its function, purpose and the benefits inherent to having an active and well managed Surveillance Department.

In many instances, Surveillance is seen as the enemy or some kind of evil entity which should be destroyed at the first available opportunity. The misunderstanding and ignorance of the Surveillance function is readily apparent when staff reductions and budget cuts are being discussed. For many the lack of perceived revenue generated overshadows the money saved in terms of litigation, theft, fraud and money saved through preventative measures.

Most of what Surveillance does is intangible. At times no cost or monetary value can be assigned to the relevant function, how can this be assigned to a preventative function/measure? When cost or monetary value is assigned to a certain incident or function, then this is diligently recorded by Surveillance but once again, a lawsuit saved due to surveillance reporting and footage is not recorded as a ‘win’ for Surveillance. So at the end of the day, the accountants/senior management get reports from Surveillance stating that they have saved X amount of money but what is not recorded is the amount of money saved when at litigation and from implemented preventative measures. It is this, sometimes intangible, amount which goes a long way to show that Surveillance is not only necessary but is needed in retaining the profits made.

This opinion does not even touch upon other facets of Surveillance such as ensuring customer safety, safety at work, etc. The Surveillance department is a powerful compliance and auditing tool which when used effectively and understood properly, goes a long way to enhancing a company and all those who interact with it.