Rainy days at the racetrack

Jan 1, 1997 12:00 PM, By NANCI JO ANDERSON

           

Casino boosts business - and raises security concerns - at Delaware Park. CCTV meets the surveillance challenge. On a rainy winter day, there is little action outside Delaware Park Racetrack in Wilmington, Del. But inside, the clink, clink, clink of coins dropping, and the ding, ding, ding of one-arm bandits sends your mind racing to the sunnier side of the U.S. - Las Vegas! On the casino floor, patrons enjoy a little piece of Vegas on the other side of the Chesapeake. Crowds are thin in the early morning, but by lunch, the slots are well occupied by enthusiastic players who range from local construction workers to senior citizens. They are all there for one reason: to try their luck at the 715 slot machines recently installed in the racetrack's grandstand. They seem entranced by the spinning fruit and other reeling images, apparently oblivious to the video cameras scanning the scene, protecting them and their winnings.

Delaware Park dates back to 1937, when DuPont built the 200,000-square-foot grandstand and clubhouse and adjoining stables and constructed the racetrack on 650 acres of tree-laden land. Catwalks around the inside of the clubhouse recall yesteryear when people transferring money from room to room moved around without being seen - the security precaution used before the advent of video surveillance.

Today, Delaware Park takes more contemporary security precautions. John Capuano, who became director of surveillance after retiring from the Delaware State Police Department, explains that slot machines were installed to save the horse racing industry: Horse racing was a dying art and it needed a boost in the arm. With many tracks losing patrons to the casino industry, Delaware's legalization of slot machines at racetracks opened up new business opportunities for track owners and increased the need for electronic surveillance to protect assets and to safeguard customers and employees.

Joe Fillippoli, director of technical operations, Greg Thomas of Delmarva Systems Corp., and Dan Hearn, sales representative for Midlantic Marketing - manufacturer's representative for Philips CSS, used BURLE equipment manufactured by Philips Communications and Security Systems to put together an all-color CCTV security system that fit the new casino's needs. TC770 Series AutoDomes were chosen as the primary cameras. They stay focused on subjects during panning and tilting and rotate when tracking a person walking directly under them. More than 80 AutoDomes scan the slot floors and money exchange areas. TC292 fixed cameras with domed housings are also used.

The cameras are installed in the slot areas, at all entrances and exits, and everywhere money transactions take place, such as in the hard and soft count and money cages, says Capuano. Equipment is also installed in the surveillance control room, underneath the casino floor. The hallway to the control room has a wall of wooden cabinets numbered from one to 31, which held daily receipts before the computer age. The system also includes a TC8600 Series Allegiant microprocessor-based video switcher/control system, set up by Delmarva Systems Corp. It handles up to 128 cameras by 16 monitor switching and provides 16 keyboard inputs, 128 alarm points, a computer interface port and a logging printer port. On-site receiver drivers allow operators to control pan, tilt, zoom and multiple pre-positions, four auxiliaries, autopan and random scan. Only nine cameras were inputted to each unit to minimize time delay between shots.

We are using simplex multiplexers and one duplex for playback and TC3990 high-resolution time-lapse VCRs, says Capuano. The VCRs record up to two real-time hours and up to 720 time-lapsed hours. They also provide one-shot recording, producing horizontal resolution of up to 400 lines of color in all recording speeds. The system is operated and programmed using full-function keyboards. Built-in operator priority levels provide system flexibility. Monitors are watched around the clock in three two-operator shifts, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, even on Christmas and Easter - the two days the track is closed. As long as there are slot machines and money on the floor, we are going to man the cameras, says Capuano. Video tapes are reviewed and then stored in case a problem arises. Eventually, they are recycled. Surveillance cameras allow operators to track suspicious patrons throughout the casino. With the pan/tilt/zoom feature, they can spot a potential problem and zoom in for a closer look - close enough to check out whether a player is using a slug or a legitimate coin. Jackpot winners are easily spotted on the monitors and followed by the cameras to safeguard them.

Margaret Piscitelli, surveillance operator, recalls an incident where the cameras helped observe a player who was being watched by strangers. There was a couple just standing there watching this lady play for hours. The guard asked her whether she knew the couple, and she said +no'. With the aid of the cameras, Piscitelli and her surveillance partner, Joe Catalogna, unobtrusively kept guard from the control room. When the woman was finished playing, she and her winnings left the clubhouse safely, escorted by Piscitelli and Catalogna via the monitors.

There are several reasons to have security equipment: to protect assets from theft and yourself from personal injury claims and liability, and to protect your customers, says Capuano.

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