Crime and casinos
Credit to Norfolk District Attorney Michael Morrissey’s office for creativity. They’re trying to snag a $75,000 grant to fund a casino-specific prosecutor who can handle a surge in criminal cases related to the opening of a slot parlor in Plainville.
Thing is, there doesn’t seem to have been an actual surge in criminal cases associated with Plainridge Park Casino, which is a point of pride both for the facility and for the state Gaming Commission.
But budgets are tight these days and there’s a pool of money available, so, well ... there you have it.
The application from Morrissey’s office cites the “negative impact” of the slots parlor on Plainville and surrounding communities, and a “general increase in criminal activity” from the presence of more people in the area. The office said it has seen a rise in the number of cases at Wrentham District Court, including firearm offenses, domestic violence, etc. “stemming directly” from the Plainville slots parlor.
But a consultant hired by the Gaming Commission to study the impact of the new facility on crime reported in December that there had been “no discernible impact ... on crime rates.” Some categories of crime went down. An increase in credit card fraud was “likely” related to the new facility but there was no data to prove it.
Morrissey acknowledged that the trends out of the Wrentham court are anecdotal, and that grant funding for the prosecutor and victim advocate positions would help free up resources to formally track the data.
And we don’t begrudge the DA additional resources if they’re needed and available. (The Community Mitigation Fund is seeded with revenue from casino licensing fees.) There’s a “better to be safe than sorry” argument to be made here. The city of Attleboro is also seeking a mitigation grant to address public safety, although its application acknowledges only that a rise in crime is “plausible.”
We would simply caution officials to take extra care when they portray the impact of new gaming facilities as they come on line. There are forces out there eager to exploit concerns over casinos, particularly related to crime — even if the facts aren’t necessarily there to back them up.