(Last in a series)

As more than $1 billion was won, lost and changed hands at the state’s 13 riverboat casinos last year, James Cormier was one of a handful of men who had his eye on it all.

As a sergeant with the Louisiana State Police’s gaming administrative section, the state’s sole casino license and regulation body, Cormier watched where the money came from and who handled it. He and his office routinely performed background checks on every dealer, pit boss, count room technician and casino manager in the state. Even shareholders who own 5 percent or more of the casino stock, were subject to background checks. Per law, he and other State Police troopers also popped in to casinos no less than 230 times a year, or once every two days or so, to check compliance regulations.

And last year alone, State Police made between 500 to 700 arrests in Louisiana casinos, the majority for minor offenses such as fake identifications and trespassing, but enough to send a message that foolishness will not be tolerated inside casinos, he said.

“We’re not a bouncer in a bar,” he said. “We don’t go around telling people to leave and not come back, but we are here for one reason, and it’s to protect anything involving the state’s interest, to uphold the integrity of the game.”

Locally, the enforcement inside a St. Tammany casino would be no different, Cormier said of a preliminary proposal by Parish President Kevin Davis for such entertainment near Slidell.

State Police’s policing effort, however, stops at the casino doors. Once outside, the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office would be responsible for any mayhem that occurs in the parking lot, streets or nearby restaurants and bars. And already, Sheriff Jack Strain is anticipating a crime surge, shift in response times and the possibility of extra patrols.

“This thing changes our dynamic a little,” he said. “But if it’s coming, it’s my oath and my job to be involved in this.”

While the proposed entertainment district south of Slidell, east of Interstate 10 on Lake Pontchartrain, is in its infant stages, if approved it may tout high-end restaurants, venues for world-class concerts and plays and of course, the casino.

And although Louisiana issues only 15 riverboat licenses at a time, two such licenses are owned by Pinnacle Entertainment but aren’t yet attached to any operating facility, Cormier said.

That leaves the possibility that at least one license could be used to operate a casino in St. Tammany if gaming is approved through a complicated process of voter approval and legislation, he said.

It could take months, even years, however, to be finalized.

Meanwhile, Jack Strain isn’t wasting any time.

Earlier this week, Strain met with a handful of seniors staff members, including captains from throughout the parish, in a three-hour discussion on gaming, he said.

“I’m too cheap to lose a dollar, too fat to eat in a buffet, and I don’t know anything about gambling.

But if it does come to St. Tammany this Sheriff’s Office has to have a response plan,” he said. “We’ve been quietly scrambling behind the scenes to make one.”

To make good on that plan, Strain has visited law enforcement leaders in areas like Baton Rouge, Jefferson and Shreveport, where gambling facilities operate, to pick authorities’ brains and analyze crime statistics.

It’s almost a sure bet that crime will increase, Strain said.

According to “Casinos, Crime and Community Costs,” a joint study issued in 2004 by University of Illinois and University of Georgia professors, between 5.5 and 30 percent of crimes near casinos are attributed to casinos themselves.

Strain said his research, however, has produced another number.

In comparing statistics with law enforcement leaders statewide, he’s found on average casinos produce about 10 percent or less surge in mostly non-violent property crimes, he said.

“Many times those fears of (violent crime around casinos) are unfounded,” he said.

Strain is also concerned about the policing effort of big star concerts and plays in and around the entertainment district. Strain said he recently attended a Céline Dion concert with his wife and daughter and observed the policing effort needed to coral thousands of people into a single place. Anywhere from 100 to 150 law enforcement agents were needed, he said.

Granted, St. Tammany’s district may not be as big, but the idea is the same, he said.

“I believe law enforcement has to be a major component in this plan, including getting a place at the negotiation table,” Strain said. “No agency will be more affected.”