Police Raid Illegal Texas Slot Casinos
Three businesses in the city of Killeen, Texas, were raided late Friday night as police seized several illegal gambling machines. Slot machines were grabbed, as well as $9000 in cash.
Four operators were arrested and charged with running an illegal gaming establishment. Twenty patrons were issued misdemeanor citations for playing the machines.
Detectives from the Killeen Police Department Organized Crime Services said warrants were obtained after a lengthy investigation.
Once again, costly man-hours and funding went to shutting down a minor gambling operation, wasting resources that may have better served the public preventing and investigating violent crime.
The idea that Killeen even has an organized crime section in the police department evokes images of two lonely cops, stuck at the station while the other officers go out and make arrests. Hey, here's an idea, let's bust gamblers!
Further, a lengthy investigation implies that, once seeing the gaming devices, officers had to schedule many trips to these dens of evil to verify that fun was being had, illegal fun that needed to be shut down.
The only case that may have caused a more "lengthy investigation" may have been one into prostitution rings. Just doing my job, ma'am.
Headlines are made, gamblers given tickets for refusing to allow the state to coddle them, public money wasted, and the Killeen Organized Crime Unit lives on.
