Let’s Talk about The HUMAN SHIELD STATUS Of Security Officers

Safety Of Security Officers

Parting Thoughts From The Wife
Sharon Lee Davies-Tight

We’re here to keep the peace, not to facilitate the fight.

We’re here to keep people and property secure.

This is an entertainment venue, where people come with expectations of leaving with more money in their hands than when they arrived.

Nobody really thinks that losing money is fun.

Many come in under financial pressure and leave without relief.

In most other security jobs that variable is absent, which makes the security job at Jack Cleveland Casino more challenging than other types of security jobs.

This means that security personnel must be ever-mindful of the mindset of the gambler ready to lose money.

A person carrying a concealed weapon could pop and create havoc at any moment, and because there are no metal detectors, one never knows who’s carrying what. Under these circumstances has security personnel been trained on how to handle the crowds should chaos ensue?

Has security personnel been trained on how to respond to a terrorist attack?

Jack Cleveland Casino puts the safety of all security personnel whom they hire in the hands of the security personnel. Are they trained on how to protect themselves without guns?

It is of paramount importance to JCC that the men and women on the security team use their security skills to keep the money, the property, themselves and the customers equally safe under all circumstances. That is the expectation.

Although the Cleveland Police and other law enforcement personnel may be present at any given time on the premises, the ultimate safety of security personnel lies with security personnel – the ones out front who stand at the podiums, checking customers in – with no weapon, no metal detectors, and no clear plan to assist them in what to do if and when they come under attack.

That’s why security officers need to demand salaries commensurate with their human shield status, because that’s the reality of it. The men and women with guns are not out in front. They’re the back up for the security officers. But will they always there? In an effort to save money, Jack Casino plans on trimming their presence, which puts the security officers at even greater risk.

Security officers are chosen when hired to be the human shields who act as an alarm system to the backup police officers with arms, waiting in the background to take out the terrorists after the terrorists take out the security officers. JCC needs the police officers there. Without guns for back up, the security personnel are sitting ducks.

Everybody knows it, yet nobody talks about those ducks in the room.

Everyone knows post 9-11 that terrorists look for high value targets, where lots of people gather. Who is more oblivious to their environment than gamblers praying on the next roll of the dice or the push of the button on the slot machines? Probably not even brain surgeons.

Casinos are peculiar targets where lots of distracted, oblivious people gather, which makes the job of security personnel all that more perilous. Who is going to run to an officer with a bad feeling about something they saw, when the only bad feeling they perceive is losing money?

Terrorists are smart people; they know the psychological make up of their targets. They study them for a long time before they strike.

I never know if my husband is coming home, or if he comes home early if he got fired for accepting a fake identification. How much is that worth? Perhaps families shouldn’t matter when negotiating a contract. But this familiy cares when we hear cuts are being made in the overall security apparatus, which directly impacts the security officers who may not have back up police officers on duty when that terrorist event occurs.

How much is a human shield worth? Evidently not much at the going hire rate of twelve dollars an hour for new hires.

Casinos are big money making machines. Casinos are not charitable non-profit organizations. So why the charitable organization-style wages for security officers?

If one person slips by a security officer at a podium with a fake identification, and many try, the casino can get fined somewhere in the six figure range and the security officer loses his/her job. They’re shamefully escorted out of the building as examples to the others of what happens when you make a mistake. People with families suffer.

JCC puts twelve dollar hourly employees in charge of keeping the casino from paying these exorbitant fines. Where’s the respect?

Security officers are the second lowest paid employees next to the kitchen help. Kitchen help aren’t called officers. Babysitters are paid more than security officers.

“The average hourly rate for a babysitter is $16.75 for one child and $19.26 for two kids, according to the 2019 annual study compiled by UrbanSitter…”

The current status of security officers at Jack Cleveland Casino is that of under-paid babysitters expected to be human shields without a means of self-protection should Jack Cleveland Casino become a target for a terrorist attack or a disgruntled customer.

Jack Cleveland Casino needs to do better. A lot better.

Instead of standardizing Jack Cleveland Casino into a copycat of every other casino in America, why not set the gold standard for everybody else?