Name: Jason
Title of article: Taxpayers should not fund the policing of casinos
Source: http://www.straitstimes.com/STForum/Story/STIStory_484043.html
Author: Tan Jiaqi
Date: Jan 30, 2010
The article:
I REFER to Thursday's report, 'Special training for police unit fighting casino crime'.
I am puzzled as to why the Singapore Police Force is setting up a unit, funded by taxpayers, to investigate crimes and fraudulent gambling in the casinos in the integrated resorts. The police should preserve law and order, and enforce the property rights of common citizens. Taxpayers' money is used to fund the force because all citizens stand to benefit from law, order and property rights.
A police force in any country is funded by taxpayers' money because the public at large stands to gain more than any individual.
However, the only beneficiaries from the prevention of fraud in casinos are the casino operators, and there are no visible spillover benefits to general law enforcement from police officers being trained to detect fraudsters in casinos, because the casinos are a specialised setting.
If the police did not have a casino crime unit, the only losers would be the casinos themselves, and being profit-seeking organisations, they would naturally pay for detection of such fraud, such as by training their own investigators to detect fraudulent gambling.
In other words, enforcement of honest behaviour in casinos is not a public good, from an economic point of view, and the casinos can pay for it because they are the only ones who stand to gain from preventing fraud. Public funds are being used unfairly to pay for the protection of private interests of the profit-seeking casinos. This injustice is exacerbated by the fact that casinos typically earn outrageous profits, and it is only right that they pay to protect their own interests.
My own idea:
The main idea of the author is that police should not be special trained for crime and fraudulent gambling in casinos. The reason is that the interest of the casinos is not related to all the Singapore taxpayers, the government should not use the money from public to benefit the casino operators, which is obviously not fair.
However, I cannot agree with the author. First, the crime in casinos is in charged by Casino Crime Investigation Branch (CCIB), which is a department of the government. It is just like any other police station. For example, if there is a crime in a shopping mall, can the police just stand by because it is just related to the interest of the owner of the shopping mall? Of course not! The CCIB is also doing the same thing---to investigate crimes. Second, I think to maintain a non-crime atmosphere in casinos also benefits the public. If the casinos are very fair and safe, then it can attract more visitors. And the other industries like hotels, restaurants, and transportations can also get benefits.
In conclusion, I think it is necessary to build a strong police team to take care of the coming casinos. The whole Singaporeans can benefit from it.
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Yes,I also agree that police should pay attention to the crimes conducted in casino. First, just as Jason has said, it is the duty of the police to maintain the peace of our society, regardless of different places. Secondly, the integreted resort is a very important programme in the blueprint of Singapore government. It may become a new scenery of Singapore which will help Singapore to win profit and reputation. So it is quite important to manage it well. Moreover, casino is quite a new and mysterious place to Singapore citizens and the police. The police needs to be familiar with the methods to deal with the crimes in casino.
ReplyDeleteBy Alex
comments form vivian(HAPPY TREE)
ReplyDeleteJason’s responding was sophisticated and well-balance. I do agree that it is necessary to have special trained police for the coming soon casino in order to create an atmosphere of safety and maintain the public order. With this assistance from specialized police, Singaporean and residents nearby can have a better environment without worry about the public security. However, I suggest that there is another solution for the need of the casino but rather than spending too much energy and money in satisfying the demand of the casino—that is to recruit safeguards and professional supervisor. And the casino should have a financial allocation for this subject as one of the maintenance costs. In this way, not only the government can save man-power sources but the casino offers more jobs to the general public. Nevertheless, it is a guarantee for the safety of the casino and Singapore citizens.
comment by Tim
ReplyDeleteI chose the same artical as you, I think your idea is constructive and comprehensive. As what I have said I really doubt whether this massage is true or not, because as I know, fraud in casinos is really a technical work, which means it is hard to train a whole unit of police officer to detect those type of cases. However, due to the business is supported by government, there is nothing wrong for government to contribute to it.