sambum

Russian woman behaving badly! Reminds me of a situation on Koh Samui a few years ago when a female Russian tourist refused to pay a 50 baht fee for taking photographs on a local tourist attraction. It ended up with her and a Thai guy exchanging blows, the end result being that the attraction was closed/sealed off. However, the thing that stood out for me was the Russian woman's attitude - shouting and swearing and attacking the "vendor" - more like the reaction you would expect from a drunken yob - Disgusting!

Of course they are - they think Thailand is the centre of the Universe - the "Hub of Hubs"! As has already been mentioned by a couple of posters, the increase on foreigners committing crimes seems to be connected to the "Free Visa" scheme, and they would be better employed rooting out the crime and corruption within. A good start today with the transfer of 2 top cops to "inactive posts", but do they honestly think that clamping down on foreign criminals (e.g. retirees on overstay) is going to make an improvement in tourist figures? I think not, if anything, any honest holidaymaker contemplating visiting Thailand is more likely to be put off by the "potential"corruption in the upper echelons of the RTP than arresting a few old people who have overstayed their welcome. Also, recent reports of rogue cops "waving their guns about" is bound to have more of a negative effect on tourism than the countless reports of crackdowns on "foreign criminals".

It was stated/implied a couple of days ago that they are going to make it more difficult for long stay retirees/expats! "To protect tourism" 🙂

Agreed! And is it just coincidence that the rise in crime figures seems to be running hand in hand with the "visa free" entry scheme for certain nationalities?

".....to work at the Prime Minister’s Office" "..... to inactive posts at Government House" So are we to assume that they will be sitting reading papers, playing on their phones etc, or will they actually be working e.g. shuffling paperwork?

Hear, hear! A very forthright post with a lot of true observations within! I especially like :- "Previous policy was to ignore crimes by foreigners?"

Ridiculous! I am 78 years old and heve been living in Thailand for many years (nearly 20 in total - most of the time on a Retirement Extension, and the last 5 years on an extension based on marriage to a Thai national.) My original application to change from a "Retirement Visa" to a "Marriage Visa" entailed having to submit 147 (ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY SEVEN!) photocopies of various documents! About 3 years ago the new Chief of Immigration said that he was going to make it easier for retirees and expats to acquire their visas, and a week later promptly initiated some new requirements. It really does appear that in spite of the money that we generate towards the GDP (We are here all year - every year - spending I would say, on average, about 500,000 per person) that the Government are treating us like "dirty, unwashed unwanted unwelcome farangs", and in their eyes the sooner we leave the better, as it will be a step forward in preventing criminals from setting up homes and businesses in Thailand!!!

Some friends of mine got caught drinking illegally during the Covid lockdown, and were arrested and put in the cells overnight, and appeared in court the next day via a video link. One guy that was arrested was sitting at a table in the street, on his own, not drinking but was chatting with the others when the police turned up. An interpreter explained what the court procedure would be and she said "You will state your name and then plead guilty". He objected and said that he wasn't drinking, there was no drink on his table, and was only talking to some friends, so he was going to plead not guilty. The interpreter said "OK, up to you, but what will happen (and I guarantee that this is what will happen) is that you will be remanded in custody for upwards of a week, you will have to hire yourself an expensive lawyer, and when you appear in court again, you WILL be found guilty, and your punishment will be twice what you would have received if you had pleaded guilty in the first place!" He decided to plead guilty!

This has already been pointed out a couple of times, so I was wrong to assume it was another cop - OK? However, once again, the original post certainly IMPLIES that the incident was being videoed by the police :- " After the police pursuit, the two foreigners were infuriated and allegedly attacked the police while having the incident recorded by the police." How do you interpret that?

Thank you! (I think a more accurate term would have been "disarmed" it, but hey, the justice system is out to get them!

Honest question - did they steal a pair of shoes? I can't recall anything of 18 pages of posts regarding this incident where theft was mentioned.

I am saying that that is the way that it seems as written in the article.

It shouldn't be that way, but it is!

"Section 335 of the Criminal Law: committing theft in a dwelling place. The penalty is imprisonment from one to five years and a fine from 20,000 to 100,000 baht." First mention I've seen of that one!

Funny, that! I've trawled through a few pages here and you are the only one to quote "several articles" "multiple other sources", "other reports", "various articles", and "multiple different sources" - all in a couple of hours. Not that I'm doubting your wide range of reading matter, it just seems unusual that nobody else seems to have seen any other reports on this incident?

Funny how "multiple other reports" seems to have suddenly become a "buzz phrase" on this thread!

Be honest - If you were reading this and looking at the video for the first time, how would you interpret it?:- "the two foreigners were infuriated and allegedly attacked the police while having the incident recorded by the police."

"I think you're misinterpreting the phrase, "while having the incident recorded by police" to mean that the video we have seen, is what was being recorded by police." Well, one would - wouldn't one? 🙂

Then this article is "false news"! From the article itself:- "...the two foreigners were infuriated and allegedly attacked the police while having the incident recorded by the police."

".....very weird if that was a cop why exactly they didn't draw their weapon" Couldn't agree more!

"Have you never read a news article that got some things wrong?" So we don't believe anything that has been said in the article? Or just "cherry pick" the parts that suits our agenda we like? (Maybe the other cop followed on behind - camera at the ready?) Not doubting you, but I don't recall seeng a post which claims a Thai woman took the video - could you provide a link, please?

From the article itself:- "...the two foreigners were infuriated and allegedly attacked the police while having the incident recorded by the police. Or to fire another conspiracy theory into the equation, was the whole thing just a set up, with a cop taking the video just making sure that he had enough evidence to convict the "bad farangs"?

"The vdo looks like a phone camera vdo being taken by a civilian that was hiding from possibly being attacked, or shot." No, sorry, but it does say in the article:- "...the two foreigners were infuriated and allegedly attacked the police while having the incident recorded by the police.

"But talking about who was taking the video and trying to guess their state of mind is conjecture" - WRONG!:- "the two foreigners were infuriated and allegedly attacked the police while having the incident recorded by the police." To repeat myself, if the person taking the video was another cop (See above!) why didn't he/she jump in and help? I guess it was to make sure that they had enough incriminating evidence on the pair of Kiwis. But I also would like to see any video evidence of the original roadstop.

I was replying to your comment because it does seem odd that someone (Not CCTV) was taking a video of the situation, and from what has been said already, it would "appear that" that person is another cop, and I was implying that if it was,why didn't he jump in to help?