Macau’s gaming regulator, police bosses and government heads have demanded the city’s six concessionaires strengthen the training of security personnel in order to improve their response time in emergency situations.
The call to action came at a meeting late last week, described as a “hotel casino security work conference”, in the wake of an incident earlier this month that saw a police officer fire a warning shot during a tussle with three men outside Galaxy Macau. The men had reacted angrily after being told to stop smoking in a restricted area.
The meeting, which was attended by representatives of Macau’s concessionaires, the DICJ, the Public Security Police Force and Judicial Police, called for operators to improve their security functions, including strengthening training for new security guards, developing guidelines for emergency response and improving the number and quality of video surveillance systems within their hotels.
It has been suggested that security personnel failed to provide sufficiently speedy assistance to police officers during the 3 January incident.
According to a government statement, Macau’s concessionaires agreed that more security personnel will be assigned to provide rapid assistance to police in future emergency situations.
As previously reported by Inside Asian Gaming, Macau Secretary for Security Wong Sio Chak last week defended the police officer who fired the warning shot, stating that his actions were necessary under the circumstances.
