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FEW CRIMINALS FREQUENT RACETRACKS. Seymour Buettler Tells of the Protection Which Racing Associations Give Their Patrons. Fewer criminals are to be found around arace-XralGiFuiirWber congregate. The police system Is so complete that it is next to impossible for pickpockets and thieves to gain entrance to the enclosure, and as a result there is a paucity of losses reported at the end of the meeting as compared with the gatherings at carnivals aud floral fetes held in different parts of the country each year. Seymour Buettler, who has charge of the Iinkerton men at Ascot Park, is authority for the statement that men connected with racing are as n rule more honest and reliable than those who hold responsible positions in other walks of life. "There are not many cases on record where bookmakers cashiers have abscouded and rarer are the cases where regular racetrack men have been arrested on charges of embezzlement or thievery," remarked Mr. Buettler to a reporter for the Los Angeles News one day this week. "I say this after having had twenty-five years experience with criminals." Mr. Buettlers acquaintance in the criminal world is so wide . that he is sent to Washington every four years to protect the public against the light fingered gentry that Hock to the national capital at inauguration time. Criminals infest all walks of life," lie continued, "but strange as It may seem, there are fewer clooks to be found at the racetracks than in any olher place. As assistant superintendent of the liukertou Detective Agency, and in .charge of racetracks and the criminal department, my experience with crooks Is wide aud I want to go on record as saying that there are few arrests made in connection with horse racing as compared with the embezzlements aud thievery reported from banking Institutions and insurance companies. Our police system at racetracks is so complete that it is almost impossible for crooks to operate despite the large crowds which congregate at the course. Every professional crook in the country is known to our men, which makes it almost impossible for one of them to get inside the gate. If, by chance, one gets by the turnstiles, there is always someone connected with the track that comes to the front aud tips it off. "After the Floral Carnival which takes place today at Pasadena, there will be numerous reports of robbery, and It will be the same during the Venetian fete at Venice, which will be held the middle of this month. At revival meetings there is more pocket-plckiug done in a day than is -sported at an entire season on a racetrack. Robberies are committed every Sunday on the street cars which run between this city and Santa Monica, but seldom is a man touched or a womans purse taken while traveling to and from the racetrack. "The tourists who visit Los Angeles each year are poorly protected as the result of the inadequate police system. It is not because the police here are inattentive to their duty, but because the system does not provide for men of experience and acquaintance with the visiting criminals. A fund should be set aside each winter to give the necessary protection for the tourist. The racetrack pays more money for protection against the criminal element than any other known institution. The precaution that the Jockey club takes In New York alone assures safety to the uninitiated. It is the same with the Los Angeles Jockey Club, and it should follow that the tourists visiting here each winter should get the same protection. "At Ascot there are twenty-five men under my direction and as a result to date there has not been one case of robbery or pocket-picking reported. Mark me when I say that there will be many losses reported tonight from Pasadena, where the Floral Carnival is being held. YES
