Police Not Worried About Crime

With the Isle Casino and Hotel opening this week in Waterloo, there has been some speculation about crime and gambling addictions increasing with the location. However, the police say that they are not concerned at all with the issues, and are not expecting any sort of major increase in crime.

There have been numerous studies done over the years that point to everything from increased to decreased crime surrounding casinos, and since there are no clear cut ways of knowing whether or not the casino will bring in crime, for now the police are not worried. They say that in other Iowa cities that showed a small increase in minor offenses, but not all of them could be linked to gambling, and it wasn’t more than they could handle.

The only concern that the police chief has is the popularity of the casino and what it would do to their traffic. They say that people going to see the new boat or the new casino are going to add to an already somewhat congested area, and therefore they are afraid of more traffic and thereby more accidents.

Other than that, the chief said he is not worried because most of these kinds of establishments put a lot of money into their security personnel and devices and therefore it saves them from having to patrol the area more. They also say that with the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation having staff members at every casino that cuts down on crime as well.

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