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Raymond Hitchcock: Sorry but tribal casinos aren't linked to increases in crime

Casino opponents are salivating after a senior Trump administration official at the Bureau of Indian Affairs linked tribal gaming to "crime" at a Congressional hearing without so much as an explanation. Now, tribal leaders like Chairman Raymond Hitchcock of the Wilton Rancheria are being forced to respond:

As Wilton Rancheria’s resort and casino project continues to make progress, elkgrovenews.net’s apparent determination to publish specious claims and biased opinion under the guise of “news” becomes more desperate. The latest distortion represents a new low in scare tactics. To be clear, the project will not be a magnet for prostitution or human trafficking. And, it’s time to put to rest the false claim that the community had no voice in the project.

We condemn human trafficking and all types of human atrocities. We will implement every measure possible and work with the Elk Grove Police Department to find, prosecute and eradicate such abuse of human life, if it ever occurs. Meanwhile, it’s inaccurate and unfair to compare tribal facilities to Las Vegas, where prostitution is legal and no one seems to bat an eye about it.

Elk Grove Police Chief Bryan Noblett settled the issue of crime when he told a community meeting earlier this year that he had dispatched officers to talk to police departments in communities with tribal gaming facilities: “What we found from our partners at other agencies…is they honestly haven’t seen a significant uptick in crime.” Chief Noblett’s findings were consistent with numerous academic studies, including an independent study presented at Harvard University of 100 communities across the United States with Indian casinos ...