The Biloxi Experience

A man, wanted on a federal fugitive warrant, makes threatening telephone calls to his former girlfriend in West Virginia. The calls follow an argument they had when he shot and seriously wounded her and then fled the state in a stolen car. FBI agents from the Huntington, West Virginia, resident agency traced the call to a pay phone near a gift shop in a casino in Biloxi, Mississippi. Within several minutes, FBI agents in nearby Gulfport, Mississippi, drove the short distance to the gift shop and confronted a man fitting the description. They positively identified him as the fugitive and arrested him without incident. [1]

Tourists and other visitors have long been attracted to Mississippi's Gulf Coast area around Biloxi for the sandy beaches, warm weather, and great seafood, but the recent legalization of casino gambling has increased Biloxi's popularity dramatically. Only a few of the new visitors, like the fugitive in the opening scenario, will raise concerns for local authorities; however, as criminals increase, they will place new responsibilities on those charged with protecting the public.

Undoubtedly, casinos have produced a boom for the local economy over the last 9 years and they have forever changed the city and the Biloxi Police Department (BPD). This industry now attracts more than 40,000 additional visitors per day to Biloxi and generates slightly more than $17 million a year in revenue for the local government, as well as an additional $6 million to the county and $57 million a year to the state. [2]

As Biloxi managers look ahead, they naturally focus on future challenges. But as the police department plans for an upcoming move to a new $10 million public safety building, officials can look back and appreciate the changes that have occurred. These dramatic changes have produced valuable lessons in successful community planning, organizational leadership, change management, and the role of the police executive.

THE WAVE THEORY

Domestic lotteries first surfaced in the 1740s, primarily to finance public works projects in the colonies. They generally had become accepted by some of the colonists when the crisis of the Revolutionary War forced the Continental Congress to authorize a national lottery to raise funds? This period in American history, sometimes characterized by an acceptance of gambling "for worthy causes," is referred to as the first of three waves of legal gambling in the United States. [4]

By the end of the Civil War, many states had legalized some form of gambling--often state lotteries--to stimulate the depressed economies in the south and the west. The lotteries soon began to disappear for a variety of reasons, and by 1878, only one remained in Louisiana. Even after a serious corruption scandal involving the Louisiana lottery in the 1890s, it still took federal legislation to force local officials to end the lottery. By the turn of the century, this second wave had ended. [5]

While some historians have traced the origins of the current wave of legal gambling to the start of the Great Depression in the early 1930s, [6] others believe that the present day growth of legal gambling resulted from the decision by New Hampshire in 1964 to reintroduce the state lottery. [7] That decision, probably more than any other, set in motion a series of events that exposed most Americans to some form of legal gambling. This industry has grown as more people consider gambling an entertainment and not a vice, and an increasing number of state governments view gambling as a source of jobs and revenue.

AMERICAN GAMBLING

In preparing for change, the BPD examined the history of legal gambling in this country and studied past efforts to handle law enforcement issues. Long before the arrival of casinos in Biloxi, the history of legal gambling in the United States seemed to be a cycle of government prohibition against gambling followed by some national crisis. The government would then promote some form of legal gambling to solve the crisis and subsequently return to a general prohibition. New prohibitions often came as the result of some scandal related to the administration of the gambling initiative, which ultimately discouraged many cities on the whole industry. [8]

Some individuals believe that issues like legal gambling, and the accompanying forms of 24-hour entertainment, have historically divided the different cultures and geographic regions that make up the United States. Even in today's environment, legal gambling of any kind divides many communities because some individuals often perceive it as socially destructive and morally wrong.

As early as 1988, casino gambling was legal in Nevada and New Jersey. Now, Utah and Hawaii are the only states without some form of legal gambling. [9] While Mississippi has become one of the major centers in the growth of the casino industry, most Americans now live only a short drive away from some form of legal gambling. Early recognition of the impact that casinos can have on local services, coupled with good planning by the BPD, prevented many of the problems other communities with casinos underwent. The projected revenue estimates from the proposed casinos made it difficult for the police and other local officials to look beyond such windfalls. However, the willingness of officials to focus on the changes that would occur ultimately proved the reason for Biloxi's success.

MISSISSIPPI GAMBLING

Casino gambling came back to Mississippi in 1987 when "cruises to nowhere" departed Biloxi and treated passengers to onboard gambling as soon as the ship reached international waters in the Gulf of Mexico. [10] The state of Mississippi initially fought this gambling initiative in the courts, but by 1989, it had become the first state to allow gambling in state waters on cruise ships in transit to or from international waters. [11]

By the next year, the Mississippi legislature had passed a comprehensive law that legalized dockside casino gambling and created a state gaming commission. This 1990 law enabled the voters of 14 counties along the Mississippi River and the Gulf Coast to decide, by referendum, if they wanted dockside casinos in their communities. [12]

As local voters prepared to decide this issue in 1990, Biloxi found itself nearly bankrupt and 6 months behind in repaying its debtors. [13] The police department's equipment was deteriorating, and the city could not afford to replace officers who left the department. This countywide issue divided voters in Harrison County and the major cities of Biloxi, Gulfport, and Long Beach. Few options seemed to exist for the future of Biloxi, but the voters of Harrison County overwhelmingly rejected this initiative. A change in the state law enabled the voters in each city in the counties to decide the issue for their locality, and in 1991, voters in Biloxi approved the new referendum and the first of nine dockside casinos opened in Biloxi in 1992. [14] Mississippi now has 29 casinos in operation, and it has become the third largest gaming center in the country. [15]

Legalizing gambling did not come without a price to the citizens of Biloxi. According to BPD data, crime figures for Biloxi show an increase in reported crimes since the first casino opened in 1992. [16] To help ally fears about this increase in crime in those localities approving casino gambling, Mississippi law mandated that 20 percent of the casino revenues returning to the community would supplement the local public safety budget.

THE IMPACT ON CRIME

As senior staff members at the BPD prepared for the inevitable changes, they had the advantage of access to past studies by academicians and practitioners. In a 1976 report, the U.S. Commission on the Review of the National Policy Toward Gambling had cautioned about corruption and the incompatibility of revenue raising and crime control when jurisdictions legalize gambling. [17] Crime figures reported to the FBI in the 9 years after the first casino opened in New Jersey in 1977 showed that the incidence of all crime combined had increased 138 percent. [18] This crime problem, and the anticipated increase of citizen participation in legal as well as illegal gambling, raised a concern in the 1988 report of the New Jersey Governor's Advisory Commission on Gambling. [19] These historical studies convinced Biloxi officials that their city would suffer from an increase in crime as well.

CHANGES AT THE BILOXI POLICE DEPARTMENT

Biloxi officials attribute the city's success since the arrival of casinos to a good partnership between the police department and the community and good planning by government officials at all levels. As a result of the influx of new revenue to the city, the police department hired additional officers and increased their starting salary. At the same time, the department's budget more than tripled. [20] Part of this new money also enabled the city to build a new public safety building for the police and fire departments.

Within a very short period after the arrival of legal gambling, an additional 11,000 jobs linked directly to the casinos came to the area around Biloxi. In addition to those positions, another 18,000 jobs associated indirectly with the casinos became available in the community. The unemployment rate declined from about 8 percent before the casinos to about 3 percent today. [21]

In 1990, Biloxi, a congested peninsula, covered approximately 25 square miles with a population of 46,319. Officials estimate that Biloxi's population has grown during the last decade to more than 53,400. In 1999, Biloxi annexed a small area to the north and added approximately 34 square miles and an additional 4,000 individuals to the city. [22] This growth, primarily due to casino gambling, forced officials to face the challenges of policing the new Biloxi.

BPD managers tried to recognize the many positives, as well as the negatives, of casino gambling and began to focus on the various changes the department needed to make. Besides anticipated new crime problems, managers realized that casino gambling also would impact the department's employees. Past corruption scandals associated with casino gambling evoked images in the public's mind of the arrival of organized crime figures near the casinos, bribery scandals involving elected officials, and corrupt police officers. [23] Police officials had to put forth a dedicated effort to negate this perception and ensure that it did not become reality in Biloxi. The first efforts involved four stages and dealt with personal conduct issues, traffic enforcement priorities, department reorganization, and interagency partnerships.

Personal Conduct for Employees

During the first stage of a review of departmental policies, managers revisited ethics and personal conduct issues. Police managers recognized that the employees at the department remained just as susceptible to gambling-related problems as anyone else in the community. To address this issue, BPD managers restated the agency's standards. The department had to prevent or respond to any problems that surfaced from its employees who patronized the casinos. Many departments have established Employee Assistance Programs (EAP) to augment programs available through insurance companies. Because insurance benefits are often limited, the establishment of an EAP received high priority.

Additionally, the department had to reinforce policy guidelines on the critical relationship between the role of investigators and maintaining the integrity of investigations. One of the first policy amendments made to manage perceptions prohibited police employees from engaging in any off-duty employment at the casinos. Policy forbid anyone who regularly patronized the casinos from conducting criminal investigations at the casinos. Additional guidelines prohibited officers in uniform from taking meal breaks in the casinos.

Traffic Enforcement Priorities

Next, the department made a priority of the enforcement of general traffic offenses and, particularly, driving under the influence violations. Biloxi could expect more than 40,000 visitors each day, and the police department had to ensure that the city remained safe for residents and visitors alike.

Hurricane evacuation plans also came under this review. Biloxi's position on the coast always has made hurricane evacuation plans a priority for city officials. Now that Biloxi had become more of a vacation destination for families and large groups, contingency plans would have to account for tens of thousands of additional visitors during this period. The limited number of evacuation routes from the coast always has presented a challenge to traffic and emergency services planners. Every season they must prepare new plans that require evacuating more people and staging larger emergency shelters inland.

Department Reorganization

The third area of review involved recognizing that gambling and gamblers attract many of the traditional vices (e.g., prostitution, pornography, loan-sharking, and extortion). The department reorganized its vice and narcotics unit into separate units to more effectively investigate the increased violations. The department anticipated that pawn shops would experience more activity with casinos in town, and within a year, the number of pawnshops had doubled. Within the next 4 years, the number had doubled again to more than 30. While this did not necessarily indicate that more people were pawning stolen property, it did require that the department dedicate resources to monitor this increased activity to avoid future problems.

Partnerships Between Agencies

The BPD had always fostered working relationships with other law enforcement agencies in the area, but the introduction of casinos required a renewal and rededication of these efforts. The last major issue involved developing a Casino Crimes Task Force with the FBI and other federal, state, and local agencies. The task force would target those groups involved in check and credit card fraud, prostitution, money laundering violations, and pornography occurring in and around the casinos. The task force helped generate successful prosecutions of these complex investigations. The gaming commission and the police department continued to investigate regulatory violations and some cheating cases at the casinos, but the task force remained dedicated to the investigation of organized criminal groups.

In addition to crimes at the casinos, the police department experienced an increase in the investigations of robberies, check and credit card fraud, property crimes, domestic abuse, and alcohol-related violations. The dramatic increase in the local population fueled the increases in reported crimes.

LESSONS LEARNED

Organizational change proves both healthy and inevitable, but the changes associated with the impact of casino gambling on a community accelerate everything for the police executive. In addition to managing growth issues and changes within the department, police executives must deal with changes in attitudes that, if left unchecked, can have a negative impact on the community.

Some studies have shown a link between the sometimes widely held view that illegal gambling is a victimless crime and the influence that it can have on police officers. [24] Even the advocates who oppose any legal gambling sometime downplay the importance on gambling-related crimes when the police have more serious crimes to investigate. Officials must realize that legal gambling will attract an unsavory element that can jeopardize the safety and well-being of the city's s residents and the many visitors who come to gamble.

Police managers need to assure the community that their department vigorously enforces gambling laws like they would any other laws. The citizens of Biloxi want casino gambling to prove successful, and the role of law enforcement remains critical to that success.

Last, the police department learned the importance of having a voice on local boards to prevent some seemingly trivial or unrelated matter from becoming a future police problem. The police should participate in any discussions between planners, developers, and representatives from the local government. For example, designs for new road patterns around the casinos in Biloxi were sometimes hastily made. Input from the police department proved critical to avoid creating nuisance traffic or critical problems in the event of an evacuation. Looking at this issue in hindsight, officials agree that this area should have received a higher priority during the early planning stages.

With the ongoing changes at the police department, amendments to the local zoning ordinances and building codes and issuing construction permits did not initially seem like a police priority. However, it did not take long to realize that the placement of large signs, the location of parking lots and parking spaces, and the design of major area roads quickly would become a problem for both the public and the police.

The police can bring a needed perspective to any policy discussion by city engineers and other local government leaders. After all, officers must deal with citizens who complain about the nighttime construction noise, flashing lights from business signs, or other seemingly minor issues that citizens consider important.

CONCLUSION

The city of Biloxi remains forever changed by the legalization of casino gambling in Mississippi. Although controversy always will exist over casino gambling, the benefits it provides to the community are undeniable. People who work, live in, and visit Biloxi receive a much higher level of service and protection, in part due to the revenues generated by the legalization of casino gambling. The community can now attract and retain more qualified police officers, which has given the department the stability and experience that it will need in the future.

The experience that Biloxi managers gained during this period in dealing with the various issues affecting the police department and the community proved invaluable. While Biloxi's experience centers around the impact of legal casino gambling, reaching a balance on issues and dealing with change remain paramount for any successful police executive.

The author thanks Dr. John Jarvis, Behavioral Science Unit, FBI Academy, for his assistance in preparing this article.

Endnotes

(1.) The Jackson, Mississippi, FBI field office conducted this investigation in February 2000.

(2.) Gaming tax revenue figures compiled by the Biloxi Police Department from state gaming commission records.

(3.) Ronald J. Rychlak, "The Introduction of Casino Gambling: Public Policy and the Law," Mississippi Law Journal 64 (1995):300.

(4.) Scott M. Montpas, "Gambling On-line: For A Hundred Dollars, I Bet You Government Regulations Will Not Stop The Newest Form of Gambling," University of Dayton Law Review 22, (1996): 165. The study of the three waves is attributed to a study by I. Nelson Rose of the Whittier College School of Law.

(5.) Ibid, 165.

(6.) Supra note 4, 165.

(7.) Supra note 4.

(8.) Supra note 3, 291.

(9.) Robert Goodman, "Legalized Gambling and the Real Costs (para)," The Wilson Quarterly 19, no. 4 (autumn 1995):24; and Stephanie Martz, "Legalized Gambling and Public Corruption: Removing the Incentives to Act Corruptly, or, Teaching an Old Dog New Tricks," Journal of Law and Politics 13, (Spring 1997): 458.

(10.) Supra note 3, 307.

(11.) Supra note 3, 307.

(12.) Supra note 3, 308.

(13.) Supra note 3, 317.

(14.) Barbara Marquand, "Legalized Gambling: What Police Have to Win and Lose" Law and Order, November 1994, 86; and Edward Walsh, "Two Sides of Casinos' Coin: Success Opens Rift In Mississippi Politics," The Washington Post, July 12, 1998, Al.

(15.) Ibid (Walsh).

(16.) Biloxi Police Department.

(17.) John Warren Kindt, "Increased Crime and Legalizing Gambling Operations: The Impact on the Socio-Economics of Business and Government," Criminal Law Bulletin, November-December 1994, 540.

(18.) Ibid, 544.

(19.) Supra note 17, 544.

(20.) Statistics compiled by the Biloxi Police Department revealed that personnel increased from 92 to 157 officers. In 1991-1992 the starting salary for a police officer was $15,707. By 1999-2000 it increased to $24,255. During the same period, the police department's budget grew from slightly more than $3.4 million in 1991-1991 to more than $12 million in 1999/2000.

(21.) Figures from local statistics compiled by the Biloxi Police Department.

(22.) Information provided by the Biloxi Police Department.

(23.) Supra note 9 (Martz) 460.

(24.) Supra note 9 (Martz) 461.

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