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.