COURSE CROOKS

Taihape Daily Times, 9 December 1918, Page 6

COURSE CROOKS

DEPRIVED OF A LIVING. SHORT SHRIFT IN SYDNEY. The Spring meeting at Randwick was attended by 205,000 persons. The money that passed through the totalisator totalled £223,110, and it is estimated that another three-quarters of ; a million was handled by the bookmakers; yet there was only one theft —a pickpocket getting away with a watch worth £5. Though there were dozens of spielers pickpockets and magsmen in Sydney during the Spring racing carnival, there was a remarkable absence of the class of crime always associated with' big turf outings a few years ago (says a Sydney writer.) The meeting attracted 205,000 persons, but it was not until within an hour 1 of the running of the last race on the final day that anything requiring the attention of the police occurred Then a patron of the flat was relieved of a watch worth £5 • This, despite the fact that a million of money changed hands on the four days and that much valuable jewellery was worn; •" CONTINENTAL THIEVES. A few years ago the Spring Carnival was looked upon as a harvest for thieves. About seven years ago two continental pickpockets got into the paddock at Randwick, and operating in the "crowds' round the big bookmakers got away with watches and other jewellery worth over £I,OOO. Such a haul was not frequent at Randwick but it was a regular thing for the disappearance of >a couple of hundred pounds' worth of jewellery to be associated with every big racing fixture. The change is ascribed by the detectives to the close watch now kept on all classes of criminals prior to a big meeting. Those who are not hunted out of the city are kept under observation, and are not given a chance to get on to the course. Detectives are posted at all gates, and if any of the crooks show; up they are told that their room is preferred to their company. Of course, the sentries are evaded, but the spieling community gets short shrift inside. There is a lock-up on the course, and it is not necessary for a thief to be thieving to get inside the "cooler." The detectives never wait for a racecourse thief to thieve. They assume he would not be there for anything else, and put him where he cannot do any mischief until day's racing is concluded, In that way, crime on the racecourse is kept to a minimum.