pedro01

There's something to be said for ramping up your accent (mine is West Midlands) and using a lot of slang when talking to them. A few will give up when they can't understand <deleted> you are saying.

That's generally been my experience. Mind you - I've not been guilty of much. The exception was the chief prosecuter of an area of Bangkok. Someone had reported me for something I hadn't done - she agreed it was bogus and agreed to toss the case. She also asked for a new sofa for her office. I told my lawyer there was no f***ing way I was going to part with any cash - and the lawyer ended up paying it from his own pocket as he was interested in an 'ongoing relationship'. That's the only time I've been properly shaken down. I was disgusted.

I would imagine they are 9-bars - which is 9 ounces (1 oz = 28 grams). Although it's impossible to tell from that image.

Similar thing here - I was in Samui and purchased some shoes from a mom and pop store. They fell apart on the first day and the shop wouldn't exchange & told me to do one. An hour later, I turn up with 3 Tourist police who 'negotiated' a refund. The shop owner was furious and at one point he lunged for me but all he got in reply was a big smile from me as the cops held him back. Best day of my holiday that was.

Nice find - I like Chuwit - amazed he never got shot to be honest.

As per another thread "we have investigated ourselves and found no wrongdoing". Of course they can apologize and deny in the same breath - it's the RTP. In a country where you can blame a dead friend for your watch collection, believability is really at the low end of their priorities.

We know the outcome of any investigation in advance "we have investigated ourselves and found no wrongdoing".

But don't shut up Urban Pizza - because it's the best in town!

The number of these pills they actually seize is mind-boggling, considering the population of the country.

The payments stopped

Police do have the right to stop you, request id and search you here. If you refuse, you can be arrested. It seems they do need cause but they could simply make that up after the fact. Dilated pupils, red face would be a sign of drug use for example and after the fact, who could argue that these physical signs were not there? More on it here: https://www.khaosodenglish.com/opinion/2018/03/14/stopped-by-police-in-thailand-what-you-should-do/ and this is worth a read too - https://www.thailandbail.com/thai-police-search-what-you-should-do-if-the-police-want-to-search-you/

A bus hit our car once and the driver claimed the brakes had failed. Fortunately, they miraculously fixed themselves on the drive to the police station.

I didn't like Thaksin when he was PM - but he sure has grown on me after the past 8 or so years. I say let him back and lead again if he can get the votes. The only downside is the likelihood of a yellow rebellion if he does come back to power.

My experience with checkpoints in the evening is that they stop every car. Private vehicles yield drunk driving bribes, taxi's yield possession bribes. If the bribes weren't there, they would have stopped wasting time stopping taxis years ago. I think that is the "why" to these checkpoints. I remember years ago scoring a .77 when the limit was .80. The police went mental - they were jumping up and down, laughing their heads off, patting me on the back saying "lucky man, lucky man" and asking me dumb questions like what lottery number I fancied. It was one of my most bizarre experiences in Thailand. I can tell you, I had a sweat on watching those numbers go up.

The fringe benefits are good though!

Getting stopped.searched is inevitable if you go out late in Bangkok and take a taxi back. It's not all roads - but roads like Petchaburi often have checkpoints where they check EVERY car looking for drunks/drugs. Their first assessment of you is when they first talk to you in the taxi. They are watching your demeanour, they are looking at your pupils, they know what people on drugs look/sound like. If you are drunk, you will probably get searched. The absolute best thing to do is to simply comply with a smile on your face, be friendly with the cops, crack a joke or two. Arguing with them will simply be taken as a sign you have something to hide. You cannot prevent a streetside search by arguing with them, it simply escalates the situation. Arguing is simply feeding your ego and pitting your ego against that of the cop. You need to park your ego in these situations.

Not really - you could reform the police without changing a single law on the books. Then we'd see enforcement where previously we could have waived the monetary get out of free card. The police do not enforce the laws here, hence the carnage on the roads. It's not the laws that are an issue, it's the people paid to enforce them on slave labor wages.

What we do know - police bribes are your classic carrot and stick scenario here. The stick - going to court for a committing a silly crime. The carrot - making it all go away with a payment. Admittedly, that's not much of a carrot. But without the stick, the police don't have leverage. Same with traffic police. In that case, stick number 1 is a trip with them to the police station to "sort things out" - you get a chance to pay a bribe and not go to the police station. If you DO go to the police station, you are offered the chance to pay a higher bribe because you've inconvenienced them. The stick used then is the sentence for the crimes (no matter how silly) you committed. At a guess, I'd say she refused to pay a bribe on the spot because the police don't want to go to the police station - it takes their time away from bribing others.

This is also normal here. The full truth won't come out from that side as it would implicate them. Instead there will be lots of versions of the story come out and you can pick which one to believe, although I still prefer "none of the above".

At this point, I would go for "neither". We all know how it works here - you do something that is wrong according to the law, you can pay your way out. I'm not defending it - but I find it hard to believe a bribe was paid without the threat of a stronger punishment. After all, what will the police do - keep her there forever if she doesn't pay? That's not how it works here. The ecig explanation does make a lot of sense, certainly much more than her version of doing nothing against the law but still needing to pay her way out.

The police enforce the laws, they do not make the laws. Having a squeaky clean police has nothing to do with whatever laws the government put in place.

I eat the fermented fish and crab here - only made me sick the first time. That fish head looks very fresh, the eyes haven't glazed over yet - maybe someone likes them that way. I can only wonder at the parasites that could still be in it as I presume it's fresh water fish - not good at all.

To be fair - if the police were squeaky clean, the outcome would have been way worse for her. That's the whole point of a bribe - it helps you avoid a harsher penalty.

Not to mention that paying a bribe is a crime too. She had 2 options - the courts, or an illegal bribe. She took the latter.

She did commit a crime, she paid a bribe which was less than the published punishment for that crime. When she went public, she forgot to mention the vape, or the fact they are illegal here, so she's trying to garner a bit more sympathy than is due IMO. The fact that the specific law in question is idiotic is somewhat irrelevant. There's 2 sides to paying a bribe and in this case, she had a choice between being booked for that crime or paying off the police for a non-custodial, immediate exit. Let's be clear here - you have 2 choices in this situation: - get arrested and take you chances with the courts - pay the bribe and break another law (bribes aren't exactly legal, are they?) For those advocating "standing your ground" - would you all risk going to court over a vape when there's a custodial sentence for it? I don't think so. As for the police and their check points. They are looking for drunk drivers (yes, they don't check taxis generally speaking) and drugs. They have the right to do this, so might as well get used to it.