SLOT MACHINES State police to patrol casinos

Plainclothes troopers will be making the rounds at casinos.
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- The Pennsylvania State Police is forming a gambling unit to investigate crimes at slot machine parlors.
The Office of Gaming Enforcement will operate under a two-year budget of $7.5 million.
Capt. Ronald Petyak of the state police Bureau of Criminal Investigations in Harrisburg will head the new unit and is overseeing background checks on the state's regulatory board.
Armed troopers in plain clothes will roam casino floors to augment private security and "minimize the impact from activities inside the facility on the local police jurisdictions," Petyak told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review for Sunday's paper.
"We've been talking to our counterparts in other states where gaming enforcement is ongoing, obviously the goal being not to reinvent the wheel here," Petyak said.
"They're telling us, 'Set the bar high and don't make the same mistakes we did.' We're looking at a squad concept. ... The act tasks us with responsibility for investigation of all the criminal activity that occurs."
The troopers will handle crimes including theft, assault, cheating, identity theft and money laundering.
"When you get that many people at one location, you can't predict behavior," Petyak said.
Training
Troopers assigned to the gambling unit will be experienced officers who undergo specialized training to deal with crimes that might occur in casinos, Petyak said.
Police administrators began planning their duties last summer, in anticipation of the gaming legislation, which was approved in July.
State police will coordinate with a separate Bureau of Investigation and Enforcement, which the gaming law requires the control board to create. That body will draft industry regulations outlined in the law.
"Once the board is in place, we'll sit down and talk about how we can work together so that there's no duplication of resources here," Petyak said.
The state police complement of 4,100 officers will not be reduced, because new hires will replace those who are transferred to Gaming Enforcement.
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