Personal Freedom, Public Safety, And Casinos

Individual liberties do not conflict with public safety when the discussion turns to well-managed racinos or a potential casino on Block E in downtown Minneapolis.

The first arguments against adding slot machines at Canterbury Park in Shakopee and Running Aces near Forest Lake or opening a cards-and-slots casino in downtown are that this would lead to an increase in crime, bankruptcies, and compulsive gambling.

The facts can eliminate those three arguments, largely because free enterprise and self-interest serve the interests of both personal freedom and public safety in Minnesota.

Crime has gone down over the past ten years for 14 major casinos in Minnesota.

• Mystic Lake: The Prior Lake Police Department has seen the number of reported crimes drop by 29% between 2000 and 2010.

• Treasure Island (in Welch): The Goodhue County Sheriff’s Office has seen the number of reported crimes drop by 13.7% between 2000 and 2010.

• Grand Casino (in Hinckley): The Pine County Sheriff’s Office has seen the number of reported crimes drop by 58.2% between 2000 and 2010.

• Grand Casino (in Onamia): The Mille Lacs County Sheriff’s Office has seen the number of reported crimes drop by 31.7% between 2000 and 2010.

• Fond-du-Luth: The Duluth Police Department has seen the number of reported crimes drop by 15.5% between 2000 and 2010.

• Jackpot Junction (in Morton): The Renville County Sheriff’s Office has seen the number of reported crimes drop by 31.5% between 2000 and 2010.

• Grand Portage: The Cook County Sheriff’s Office has seen the number of reported crimes drop by 20.9% between 2000 and 2010.

• Fortune Bay (in Tower): The St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office has seen the number of reported crimes drop by 17.1% between 2000 and 2010.

• The Palace (in Cass Lake): The Cass County Sheriff’s Office has seen the number of reported crimes drop by 30.3% between 2000 and 2010.

• White Oak (Deer River): The Itasca County Sheriff’s Office has seen the number of reported crimes drop by 32.2% between 2000 and 2010.

• Northern Lights (in Walker): The Cass County Sheriff’s Office has seen the number of reported crimes drop by 30.3% between 2000 and 2010.

• Shooting Star (in Mahnomen): The Mahnomen County Sheriff’s Office has seen the number of reported crimes drop by 88.5% between 2000 and 2010.

• Seven Clans (in Thief River Falls): The Thief River Falls PD has seen the number of reported crimes drop by 53.6% between 2000 and 2010.

• Seven Clans (in Warroad): The Roseau County Sheriff’s Office has seen the number of reported crimes drop by 39.2% between 2000 and 2010.

Three other casinos are harder to analyze.

It is hard to estimate the crime statistics that can be attributed to the Seven Clans Casino on the Red Lake Reservation in Red Lake. Some crime statistics related to that casino could be reported by the Red Lake Tribal Police, the FBI, the Bemidji Police Department, and the Beltrami County Sheriff’s Office.

Over 10 years, there was an increase of 54 crimes in Granite Falls. Some of those crimes might be attributed to Prairie’s Edge Casino in that city. Similarly, over 10 years, there was an increase of 547 crimes in Carlton County. Those crimes were spread across the whole county, so it is unclear how many can be attributed to the Black Bear Casino in Carlton.

Trends in crime rates are also hard to discern for the card rooms added to the non-tribal racetracks at Canterbury Park in Shakopee and at Running Aces near Forest Lake. Neither of those facilities have been in operation for more than three years, and neither of those facilities are full casinos with slot machines.

So, why do crimes fall at almost all sites around Minnesota casinos?

First, it should be noted that part of that decline should be attributed to a national trend in lower crime rates over the past decade. But for many of the local and rural Minnesota sites, the decline in crime was faster than for most rural areas in other states.

Second, it should be noted that crime may have declined in areas around most Minnesota casinos because the parlors provided new jobs and a modicum of prosperity, especially on tribal reservations with low employment levels. Many people discount that factor as a cause of declining crime because they argue that most people who are going to be burglars, robbers, or predators will do so whether they are employed or not.

But self-interest on the part of the casino owners is the prime reason why crime rates have dropped around Minnesota casinos. Casino operators work with local law enforcement agencies, often paying for added patrols and visibility on the roads and in the neighborhoods around the casino. Casino operators hire private security and install extra cameras Smart casino operators watch for patrons who have been over served and arrange for sober rides home, to reduce the number of traffic incidents and DWI arrests associated with their facilities. Smart casino operators work with their local communities, advising them of crime-control efforts and convening regular citizen panels to listen to concerns and suggestions.

It is easier to make money when patrons feel safe and neighbors feel appreciated. Free enterprise at well-managed casinos tends to increase both personal freedom and public safety.

Bankruptcy is another threat raised by opponents of casinos.

When casinos opened in Atlantic City and on riverboats in the Midwest and South, there was a small increase in bankruptcies in those areas about four years after the casinos opened, as a handful of people took that long to burn through their personal assets. But over the past twenty years, a report from the U.S. Department of Treasury found “no connection between state bankruptcy rates and either the extent or introduction of casino gambling.”

Compulsive gambling

Smart casino operators also know that they can make money with happy patrons who return often for the pleasurable experiences, but they lose money and public goodwill when they do not watch for problem gamblers. Across Minnesota and the nation, managers watch for compulsive gamblers and offer counseling. People who acknowledge they have a problem can sign an agreement not to return until they have things under control. Those who do not self-bar themselves can find themselves barred by management.

Minnesota casino managers are mindful of they negative publicity they received when Hennepin County Commissioner Sandra Hilary lost about $100,000 in quarters to slot machines.

Minnesota now has the strongest programs to assist compulsive gamblers, which would be available to assist anyone who got hooked at a racino or a downtown casino

Further, the opening of racinos or a Block E casino would be unlikely to spark a spike in compulsive gambling where people have had up to 30 years of experience with lotteries, scratch-card games, pull-tab booths at most civic halls, Texas-Hold-Em tournaments at local saloons, bingo at local churches, on-line gambling, thoroughbreds at Canterbury Park, trotters at Running Aces, and slot machines at Mystic Lake, Treasure Island, Grand Hinckley, Grand Mille Lacs, Fond-du-Luth, Jackpot Junction, Grand Portage, Fortune Bay, The Palace, White Oak, Northern Lights, Shooting Star, Prairie’s Edge, Black Bear, and Seven Clans casinos in Thief River Falls, Warroad, and Red Lake.

Don’t use crime, bankruptcy, or compulsive gambling as a reason to oppose racinos.

Adding a casino in downtown Minneapolis or slot machines at a race track would not violate Article 13 of the Minnesota Constitution, which only limits further expansion of lotteries.

The Minnesota experience shows that crime goes down when a new casino opens with proper management. There is no significant link between bankruptcy and an expansion of casino gambling, according to the U.S. Treasury Department. Anyone who might be a compulsive gambler has had decades to get hooked on other forms of gambling in Minnesota, but the programs are already in place to help someone who gets hooked at the state’s 18th casino.

Libertarians, as well as conservative advocates of free enterprise and personal responsibility might have other personal or moral reasons to oppose the jobs, revenues, and tourism attracted by a new casino, but they should ignore the bogeymen of crime, bankruptcy, and compulsive gambling.

You ignored similar scarecrow arguments that conceal-carry would turn Minnesota into a Dodge City of bloody streets. Ignore the related arguments against casinos. Freedom works.

Talk with your young people about illegal drugs

There are legitimate concerns by many libertarians raised against "the war on drugs."  Some say that free individuals should have the right to ingest whatever they want without fear of arrest, indictment, or legal penalty.  Others say that bans on illegal drugs are doomed to fail in a free society, because too many people who want the drugs will find a way to get them, creating a major class of scofflaws that undermines respect for more important laws.  Still others say that the "war on drugs" has been a failure from the start at too high a cost to society.

That is the view from 30,000 feet.  But the children and other young people you love or care about are targets at ground level.  You should consider telling them that like alcohol, illegal drugs lead people to do irrational things that hurt the users, their victims, and society as a whole.  Share with them local facts that can show that drugs can lead regular people to make dangerous decisions and choices.

Sheriff Rich Stanek of Hennepin County recently released the latest data from a national study of illegal drug use by persons booked into the county jail in downtown Minneapolis.  In 2011, an amazing 89.4% of the people aged 21 or younger who were booked into the jail tested positive for drugs.  That is a 6.3% increase between 2008 and 2011.

That high percentage of drug use by booked suspects covers the full range of criminal activities, from violent crimes (murder, rape, robbery, and aggravated or armed assault) to property crimes (burglary, theft, auto theft, and arson) to other crimes (including simple assault, weapons possession, receiving stolen goods, and prostitution).

The testing is done twice a year at about a dozen large-county jails around the country.  Researchers from the Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring ("ADAM") program from the Office of National Drug Control Policy visit each jail for a week in the spring and a week in the autumn.  They interview each booked prisoner and ask about their recent use of illegal drugs,  Then each prisoner takes a urine test to assess the verbal self-reporting on drug abuse.

When you talk to your young people, it is important to have the facts. 

*     Booked suspects under the age of 21 in 2011 tested positive for at least one illegal drug at a rate of 89.4%. 

*     More ominously, young suspects tested positive for more than one category of illegal drugs at a rate of 24/7%, which is an increase of 228% over those tested in 2008.  "Taking illegal drugs in combination is extremely dangerous behavior," said Sheriff Stanek.  "I'm concerned to see this increasing at an alarming rate."

*     An even more dangerous jump was seen in the abuse of oxycodone, a narcotic that is found in many stolen and street-traded prescription medicines.  The percentage of young arrestees in 2011 jumped 560% from 2008.  "The trafficking and abuse of stolen prescription drugs is the fastest growing area of illegal drug abuse," Sheriff Stanek said.  For prisoners aged 21-25 in 2011, the abuse rate jumped a full 300% between 2008 and 2011.

*     The most frequently-abused drug used by young prisoners in 2011 remains marijuana at 83.6%, but the link between smoking grass and  criminal behavior may be less direct because it remains in a body's system for about a month before testing.  A test will not show recent use of such drugs as cocaine, meth, and heroin if 3-4 days have elapsed before the test.

Sheriff Stanek also expressed concerns about the new "synthetic drugs" that are gradually being made illegal through Congressional or state action.  "People don't know what they are getting when they buy supposedly 'safe and legal' drugs on the internet.  Trevor Robinson, 19, died and 10 others were rushed to the hospital from a Blaine house party last March when they took what they believed was a safe and synthetic form of LSD.  Similar concerns are raised about "synthetic marijuana," which involves spraying brain-research chemicals on herbs.  "Most of these drugs are made in factories in China, and you cannot know what chemicals are really being used," Sheriff Stanek said.  "They have led to seizures and brain damage.  When you buy these drugs on the internet, you are playing Russian roulette with your life."

This twice-a-year testing for drug abuse by prisoners is helpful for safety in the jails, because it helps deputies to identify and be ready for medical emergencies that frequently arise as prisoners go through withdrawal or exhibit dangerous or disruptive behavior in the cells.

It is worth talking to your young people.  Only 10 percent of the young people who get booked into jail have done something serious that gets the attention of the police without using illegal drugs first.  Almost 90 percent of the teens who get booked have used one or more illegal drugs just before their arrest.

Preaching is never a comfortable job, but "informing and persuading" young people is an important symbol of your commitment to them.

At any given moment, three million American residents are in jail or prison.  One big step to stay out of that one percent is to skip using illegal drugs.