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Casinos Offer Troopers a Colorful Beat

"But those who gamble with the law are escorted - by plainclothes detectives - down a lackluster white hallway into a three-room office which functions as a state police barracks.

"…The troopers also conduct background checks on gaming employees - more than 28,000 at Foxwoods since the casino opened in 1992, and escort employees carrying cash and chips across the floors of the world's largest casino.

"Under a compact agreement made before Foxwoods opened, the state and the Mashantucket Pequot tribe agreed to house a state police unit to function as the primary law enforcement agency within the casino. The tribe also has its own police department and state police from the Montville barracks have jurisdiction on the reservation outside the gaming floor.

"…`This place sort of attracts the weirdest of the weird,' said [Detective Ronald] Coleman.

"…[Detective Patrick] Graham recalled a late-night case involving a man who broke into a gaming table and stole about $7,500 worth of chips. He was caught on camera but got away. About a month later, he returned to the casino where surveillance employees tracked him on camera for about eight hours as he tried to break into a car in the parking lot.

"…`He then bonded himself out with the stolen chips,' said Graham.

"In August, a Massachusetts man was charged with larceny in the theft of two human corneas that had been donated for transplantation.

"…There are few instances of violent crime at the casinos.

"…Only one sexual assault arrest was made at Foxwoods last year and troopers say there is no apparent problem with prostitution within the casino itself. There were four narcotics arrests at Foxwoods in 1999 and three at Mohegan Sun.

"…In the last month, there was one arrest at each casino of parents who left their children unattended while they gambled. But, Sgt. Alex Aalberg said there is not a significant problem with abandoned children.

"…Troopers who volunteer to work in the unit spend a week in Atlantic City learning to play all the games so that they can identify cheaters. But the real training comes on the job.

"`Police officers get exposed to things here you won't see anywhere else,' said [unit commander Lt. Edmond} Brunt.

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