Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority security director Raymond Suppe shows the Sky Watch, a portable lift used for surveillance inside and outside the Las Vegas Convention Center. Photo by John Gurzinski.

Four men who broke into the Las Vegas Convention Center just before 3 a.m. on Jan. 25 thought they could get away with laptop computers, digital video disc players and flat-screen monitors.

What they didn't realize was almost as soon as they entered the cavernous North Hall was that security dispatcher Juan Fierro was watching their every move from a security office several hundred feet away.

"I happened to look over at the cameras, I noticed some figures walking around," said Fierro of the men, who police later said were moving through the convention center and pilfering electronics from booths set up for the World of Concrete show. "They were shopping at 3 o'clock in the morning."

Fierro alerted convention center security guards by radio and called the police and the chase was on.

Fortunately for guards, and unfortunately for the fleeing thieves, Fierro kept an electronic eye on the men even as they ran from the North Hall and into the empty corridors of the 3 million square-foot center.

Using a radio and newly installed security system with cameras that pan, zoom and tilt, Fierro kept pace with the fleeing burglars and fed their location to the guards in chase.

The new digital cameras and monitoring system are part of a nearly $2.5 million effort to modernize security at the convention center during the next five years. It will ultimately include more than 600 cameras that can peer around virtually every corner of the convention center, watch the roof, monitor the parking lots and zoom in close enough to not only see faces but identify the pattern of a shirt or jacket or color of a neck tie.

In addition to stopping thieves, dispatchers can watch for medical emergencies and safety lapses like a propped doorway or loose cables or items in a walkway.

On a recent demonstration of the system, Richard Feenstra, physical security supervisor for the convention authority, zoomed in on a slouching security guard to check whether he was alert or literally sleeping on the job.

"We watch for all kinds of things," said Feenstra, who was able to verify the contract guard was guilty only of bad posture and was, indeed, watching an open door. "We are catching more and more and more stuff."

The Jan. 25 incident resulted in an award for Fierro from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority and confirmation that the ongoing upgrade of security at the convention center is paying dividends for people who hold shows in Las Vegas.

"It is certainly very important for an exhibitor when you go to a city to feel there is not an excessive threat to equipment," said Tom Cindric, director of the World of Concrete event for Dallas-based show producer HanleyWood Exhibitions. "That's why we were glad that it worked."

World of Concrete, which attracted 91,000 people in January, is just one of thousands of conventions and trade shows that generate nearly $8 billion in nongaming economic impact annually for Las Vegas. Exhibitors bring in everything from mundane electronics such as laptop computers and hand-held personal organizers to the rare, like a Heisman trophy -- and even bizarre -- such as a diamond-encrusted plasma screen television or a million-dollar fishing lure.

Although the Las Vegas Police Department maintains a detail at the convention center and individual shows provide their own security, there's still the matter of watching 2,500 doors, 52 freight entrances and public spaces in a convention center that attracts millions of people every year.

The convention center's 200-person security department includes 45 armed officers, 15 armed bike patrol officers, eight dispatchers, two surveillance investigators, a K-9 officer and five safety coordinators, along with 100 part-time parking attendants.

The upgrades will help the department get more coverage from the staff by dramatically increasing the amount of space one person can watch at a given time. The digital system also makes investigations more efficient because of its search capability.

For example, if a guard discovers vandalism that occurred in an isolated area but isn't sure if it happened in the last two minutes or two days, the software can automatically search data from the camera covering the spot for activity. It is exponentially faster than watching hours, or even days, worth of videotape.

The precision of the new system versus the older cameras will also make it easier to identify exhibitors who steal from each other, said Las Vegas police Detective John Gorski, who works at the convention center.

Corrupt exhibitors have also been known to pilfer lists of their competitors in-show contacts that are gathered and stored on hand-held devices.

Under the new security system it will be easier to review what is going on in the convention center and see precisely who is where and exactly what they are doing.

"With the camera coverage it is going to be a lot easier to identify when a theft occurs," Gorski said.