Citrus Heights Gaming Hall Actually Slashes Crime In Surrounding Area
CITRUS HEIGHTS (CBS13) — Neighbors thought it was a gamble for the city of Citrus Heights to allow a new gaming hall to move into a troubled area, but they are about to be pleasantly surprised.
A viewer contacted us, making an assumption about how a new casino has impacted her neighborhood, but when we looked into it, the story took a twist.
"There were problems with graffiti; there were problems with transient activity and with camping," said Anthony Boehle with Citrus Heights Police.
It wasn't a greater police presence or tougher laws that brought about the change. It was a new casino.
"With the Stones Gambling Hall coming in, it has established an anchor tenant in that portion of our city," Boehle said.
While some feared it would attract the wrong crowd, in the two-plus months the casino has been open, crime has gone down.
Security teams travel on what used to be a rundown shopping center where vandalism, vagrancy and crime was the norm.
"There are no problems like that," he said. "They have been drastically cut back."
Kermit Shayltz runs Stones Casino, and says cameras inside and outside the gambling hall capture every movement from the underground parking garage to the front of the place.
"It doesn't make any sense to allow an element that isn't conducive to good business," he said. "We want to have a high visibility. As a customer when you come on to our property I want one of the first people that you meet is a security officer."
"They don't want to be a drain on public resources..they don't want to have a problem with the public..they don't want people to resent them being there and not come in."
The gambling hall has even helped police solve crimes by capturing suspects on its elaborate surveillance system.