Shooting at Las Vegas casino

It was a great interview. To me, he sounded a little too cocky about his security. Let's not kid ourselves, somebody wanted to do damage at a Wyin property, they can do it.

I stayed at the aria this past weekend. There was an extra 60 year old security guy at the check in line. Otherwise, I saw no difference.

 

I don't disagree with you.

Video surveillance is their biggest thing, but they're mostly concentrated on protecting the gaming floor, right?

 

NPR had an interview with a former SEAL who is now a security consultant. His clients include Wynn's casinos.

Transcript at the hyperlink or click the arrow to listen.

He's not going to say much though, either about Wynn's security measures or to throw the Mandalay under the bus.


I don't do the big hotels very often, but at Dragoncon (which admittedly is *not* normal hotel business, trust me) people routinely keep a do not disturb up for two, three, four days straight. Usually this is because there are six or seven geeks splitting the cost of an exorbitantly priced room... so they don't want the maid in there seeing sleeping bags and pallets on the floor, etc.

We also use the service elevators often there, and in particular handicapped services sets it up for people in wheelchairs or scooters to use them, as getting into the elevators at peak hours is sheer madness.

Obviously that's very different from the big Vegas houses, who have their own reasons for keeping all the traffic between the white lines.

 

As much as we want to blame someone other than a nut-case, that's not realistic IMHO. Nutcases are a proven defect in our species and we cannot prevent them nor can we contain them in a free society; as my HS buddy who went to West Point and then Delta Force reminded me in the aftermath of 9/11, there's a price for freedom. Now does that mean I endorse automatic weapons? No. But pointing the finger at the hotel is almost blaming the messenger.

 

No. Wynn sounds like they focus on the entry points. Every entry point.
With stuff that scans you without the obvious wanding. Isn't that smart security?

 

Yes. Wynn is suggesting that his properties have upped their security to a new level, not seen before in Vegas.

Is it true. Hard to say, He's portraying himself as a visionary on the issue, who saw Vegas was a security threat, and was behind the curve. He says they are now up to the task of protecting their guests.

In general, Vegas security has focused on massive video surveillance, mostly designed to protect the money on their casino floors.

 

Traditionally, you mean. It's a new world now, though. Smart security in Vegas extends the boundaries outward.

 

I might be remembering wrong, but didn't he shoot from the second window to try to take out some fuel tanks or something?

 

But there was no way to explode fuel tanks with his guns at that distance. That point has been dismissed, I think.

 

Nope. The tanks were in range, and there were a couple of bullet punctures in them which were repaired. He didn't have any tracer ammo or he could have lit them up. He was firing standard ball ammo, and no matter how many times Hollywood shows a car being shot at and blowing up, that would be extremely rare. Tracers are another thing entirely.

He had attempted to buy some unsuccessfully.

 

Vegas is a huge convention city. Every day there are dozens of people checking into hotels with hard plastic cases full of booth set-up equipment. Until you start putting all that stuff through x-ray and scanning points, which is a virtual impossibility, no hotel security is going to have the slightest idea if the boxes hold high-powered rifle scopes or business cards and table skirts.

 

Metal detectors or x-ray. From what the security consultant to the Wynn hotels said, they already use them. Nothing impossible about it.

Sure, the hospitality industry wants to look welcoming. OTOH, given recent events, it can be spun as protecting the public, and some will outright welcome having their fears allayed.