slygeeza

they were actually out last night, quite a few of them, 3 groups of about 10, they walked from i guess walking st to the police station, the uniform certainly makes them look more approachable, they dont seem to want to hang round tho so I guess the thieves will just hide till they have passed, but better then nothing

not sure why Thailand is being laughed at when most of the Western countries these days are oligarchies in everything but name

Give him some credit for being correct that this could be the worst high season and there are going to be alot of business's closing related to changing demographics, not tourist numbers. Those numbers will reflect the mass touring business and domestic tourism And since the Russians have been at pyramid base in the condo Ponzi bubble look for a correction there.

and funnily enough the tallest condo in Pattaya has been abandoned for several months now so he got that part right as well

they cleared about 100m of beach near Pattaya Klang for the fireworks, it was actually quite nice and the Russians flocked to it, but an hour later it was covered in spectator chairs, but it is quite a nice beach, what remains of it anyway, and its a shame that there is no free space on it at the moment and no sign of army intervention in the Chonburi region

collapsed up the walking st end too, but they have filled the holes you photographed with sand and repaved them, will wash out the first time it rains but thats probably not till after high season

I just saw these two collapsed areas on the walkway bordering the parking lot above Walking st. Unbelievable , the sand under the walkway washed out and the slab of concrete 4' thick with no iron bar support rods just collapsed under the weight of the pavers. About 11/2 meter deep and area about 2mx3m . And they just keep on making this same incompetent mistake over and over again everywhere. Its been over a week and nothing being done. Quality tourist destination ?

actually just towards walking st from there an area about the same size also collapsed a few weeks ago but they already filled it with sand and repaved it. they dont seem to be bothering with putting concrete under the pavers the second time round. also the area around the sculpture is sinking fast so I guess it will go soon too

When you think of it, there are reports about "border run" vans on their way to borders being stopped and checked for visas, and they are even closer to the finishing line. That makes no sense for me, but even in those cases we don`t know what 2-3 days mean for the officer in charge.

I think that was a few years ago and turned out to be illegal. if you are on the way to immigration, border or airport, then they have to let you continue.

I think they are being launched from straight out from Pattaya Klang, at least thats where the barges are parked

so who were the actual victims of this crime?

Thailand.

I realize that in general Thais are the victims of corruption but in the case of this oil smuggling it probably meant cheaper fuel for Thais at the expense of a few middlemen

kindof odd that these companies have no public presence, just an address

also odd that they havent figured out that the sand is just a few hundred meters off shore, no need to barge it from Rayong, could just bulldoze it back in while they are doing the drainage work

So be cause of the large scale this happened, I wonder what oils companies are involved?

I seriously doubt this oil was just sold om the streets...

I think the crime was that certain oil companies may not have been involved

so who were the actual victims of this crime?

they are clearing the beach of girls every night now, but still no orange shirts. I hope these girls are questioning why in the freest country in the world they have to pay 200b to be in a public area, but i doubt it

well isnt it lucky that it was a fake interview, just like the fake tourism video, and so much else in Thailand at the moment

The 2 ways into Walking Street from the North are ridiculously terrible. Narrow(just try to get by the Chinese tours) and smelly (walking over the sewage plant's grates are an experience)! And they don't care about that. The beach path is wonderful compared to that!

yes, the gap, known as "the gap", which is a 2 foot wide gap between a power pole and a hot kabab cooker that thousands of tourists have to squeeze thru every night a few meters up from the entrance of walking st in pattaya tai is a cultural icon

having a system where police are able to go out and collect money more or less at gunpoint off anyone who doesnt have the money to fight them in court will always lead to corruption, an example is girls on Pattaya Beach who are taken to the station and then told they have to pay the police or else spend some nights in the cells even tho they have broken no laws, they have no options, thats just one of thousands of examples that happen every day, also having a system where a policeman legally gets a cut of every fine he makes, which is the case in Thailand, will also naturally lead to corruption. nothing can change until laws and the whole system is changed. talking about it and arresting a few police wont change anything

still no sign of them

they shouldnt fine them, they should test them for yaba, its the crazies that are the problem.

Agree,then fine the yaba heads more then they stop going to the beach and may be slightly safer,in fact they should be jailing the Yaba heads but obviously it's a money shakedown but the yaba heads would have to move elsewhere if was a regular occurrence.

By the way how can they prove they are working girls/guys as surely they are supposed to catch them soliciting ,I mean we know they all are but surely there supposed to have proof! Not nice if you were a not working girl walking along the beach and got rounded up,yeh I know needle in a haystack.

pretty sure they get some jail if they have yaba in their pee, dont think police need to prove anything, I dont think they are even breaking any laws, the Thai police are the law and most girls dont have the money to contest them in any way. its either pay them the money or spend a few days in jail ie extortion. i have yet to met a Thai person that has any respect for the police

at lot of the foot path at the walking st end has collapsed now. not a surprize as it was collapsed before they rebuilt it and they did nothing to prevent it happening again

There are millions of folks in Thailand making less of a salary than policeman..... do they go around in mass numbers with masks and hatchets robbing people??? Come on wake up to reality. Each and every policeman knew the responsibility of the job as well as the compensation salary before choosing to apply. They knew the salary ...... why did they want to join up.......only the most naïve would think it wasn't for the added perks provided by corruption

from memory I dont think thats quite the way it works, the way the Thai police system works is that a policeman gets a cut of any fines they make and the rest goes up the line, I forget the percentage but it was written into law under Thaksin, the salary is just a base. its only natural that such a system will lead to corruption. obviously until they change that system and start paying the police a reasonable wage nothing is going to change and corruption will continue unabated. this is also why they use farang and Thai volunteers, because jobs like helping tourists arent going to pay the bills. in effect the police are in reality tax collectors but they get to keep the money rather then give it to the government, which is why all the top police are extremely weathy

still no sign of them, and its likely there wont be due to the job description

these guys arent volunteers, they all have guns, however I very much doubt that apart from the PR they will exist in reality, there was no sign of them on the beach tonight but maybe they were taking a well deserved holiday, but time will tell

Has this already been started? I got the impression that it is in the very early days so far, so perhaps it's not been rolled out in full yet.

I do think this is a great idea - the new high visibility uniforms look great, and obviously much cooler than the standard police uniforms. Well done! It would be great to see this put into practice at all tourist beach centres throughout the country.

they were on the beach yesterday being filmed by a TV station, they were wearing guns so they arent voluteers. today the only police to be seen were the 2 in standard uniforms that attend the jetski scams opposite Mikes, if I may be so derogatory. I also think its a great idea, but weather they come out again is a matter of speculation indeed

collapsed up the walking st end too, but they have filled the holes you photographed with sand and repaved them, will wash out the first time it rains but thats probably not till after high season

I think just cutting slots on the pavement to release flood water equally, and rebuild the beach using Sandsavers would be a far more effective and cheaper option, as the sand is replaced just move the further and further out to sea

I remember the days when low tide used to show 50 meters of sand banks, eventually we could get it back just using moveable concrete blocks

the new path was designed to release the flood water equally, and maybe it would have worked, but the umbrella people decided to flood the road instead by sandbagging it and no one could be bothered preventing them

hopefully there will be some good parodies made of this video