petercool

Are you suggesting that they would ignore any signs of foul play ? If there were any, there is no reason to suppose Thai police wouldn't spot it. And if no signs were there, then it is very natural to assume accidental death. Don't see any reason to look for conspiracy theories on this one.

In Bangkok, it is not tolerated and I think even against the law to walk around shirtless in the street.

Pattaya being a beach resort is a bit more lax but once off the beach, I still think it could still be considered an offence. It is indeed insulting to others and in places like the police station they do get told to go out and get a shirt and I would like to see more places tell them the same thing. It is culturally wrong almost anywhere in the world to stray off beaches half naked.

The part of this story I like is that police asked permission to search him ..... and then he gave that permission. Had he not, I wonder what the outcome would have been.

Why a joke ? I worked on communication strategies for Singapore Convention Bureau for some time and for many hotels in Thailand and what is being praised is the infrastructure and facilities put in place by the pros that bring in MICE visitors. That you might see any of that from your perspective does not negate its reality.

I said, and I guess you meant, understaffed not overstaffed.

And I was talking of regular police not Traffic, Highway, Tourist, City Hall etc.

Either the robber was really slow and possibly retarded or the police just happened to be eating som tam next door. A bit unusual for the Pattaya police to show up on time. Took them over an hour when my mates house had an intruder.

The Banglamung station has only two patrol cars on regular duty and most calls rely on police-box call outs if someone is available at those undermanned points. Nongprue station has one more car but if they are far away it can easily take an hour to reach somewhere. The reality is that the whole of Pattaya is understaffed and under funded when it comes to regular police. The local Municipal Police are often a better bet in an emergency and as yet we don't know which branch was involved in this case or whether they were Thai police volunteers.

There are three but not sure which one was involved in this story.

If you are a basically a normal guy with the right attitude to Thailand and Thais, drive carefully and use common sense, you can live anywhere here without ever being involved in accidents, fights, murders, burglary etc. Maybe I have been lucky but in 45 years here I have seen no problem for myself or family. And I live in Nongprue.

Tonight through to Sunday night you can expect extra check-points all over by Traffic Police, Soi 9 Police, Banglamung Police and Highway Police during the Pattaya Music Festival. Not all - if any - will include breath testing.

Yes, but here they use Shore Liason Groups drawn from regular sailors and marines rather than dedicated Shore Patrol units and briefing is not just one way. Local authorities need to know and coordinate some things when 5,000 men and woman might be ashore over a few days. And that is done with Embassy staff, NCIS and various police groups here.

The American Embassy, NCIS and others meet Pattaya officials, Police etc. for briefings only days before any ship arrivals and certainly not weeks in advance Only well publicized big operations like Cobra might have advance dates. From my experience, bar girls do not know well in advance nor which ships are coming. It is possible some sailors or marines have been here before and may have contacts here but most have not been here before and ships are on a rotation. Anyway, I very much doubt that exact dates are given to the ships' crews well advance even if they have a general idea of the month they might come here. While many humanitarian relief exercises take place by some ships, all are on preparedness for action and it's silly to think that security is lacking.

I am sure no-one involved in promoting Pattaya has any illusions about its darker or less attractive sides but they have to try anyway to promote what positives do exist. As with the recent MICE event campaign discussion the assumption from many here seems to be that total honesty should exist in any promotional efforts and that, frankly, is a very unrealistic idea no matter what you are promoting. One does not talk of London crime rate when promoting the Olympics nor tell you the downsides of driving a car when advertising Toyota cars for example - nor does any other product tell you any negatives.

Nothing will be announced publicly until ships are definitely arriving and only a very few days notice will be given. When the ships are here, it is possible to join what public viewing tours they might have by turning up at the relevant port and taking your chances. Any communication with charity organisations for visits that many sailors sign up for will done with the same short notice and normally not publicly announced at all beforehand.

Yes, it's a good cause for what is an annual S.O.S. call for rice of which the Father Ray Foundation needs tons and tons for the 850+ children under their care. I am involved in the project and the event concert and hope many here can support this in whatever way they can.

I heard that 1,500 cars are stolen each week in the UK .... not sure how many bikes

Yep. No point insulting the clerks at any office here. The deal is you find out what is needed and then supply it. Inconvenient at times but why should they apply your logic to their rules ?

Poor bloke, do any of you out there really think he deserves the sentence he will recieve. Is Thailand reserved for the rich only and out of bounds for anyone who simply has the guts to leave his own country in hope of a better lifestyle and I would bet he never came to Thailand in the first place with intent to do anything illegal.

If the system was fair he would be able to find other honest work anywhere without fear of prosicution.

If the intent was to say that Thailand did not allow him a different living then that is a strange thing to say. If you are qualified and can satisfy Labour Laws then some jobs are open to you but a job as a drug dealer is not one of them. What system forced him into that ?

My only concern is that while most nationalities who visit or live here make some effort to assimilate and adjust culturally to some extent, and thus have less effect on things overall, Russians do not seem to adjust and thus everyone else has to do any adjusting - Thais making a living here included.

That's an economic reality for them and while understandable it will affect us all when the common denominator is the least polite and the most unbending and we can be branded alike and probably treated alike.

Driving without a licence can, however, affect whether insurance coverage is valid in accident situations.

20 men out of 70 million .... and that's a major crime wave ? Get real.

To answer the question of sentence ...

"Section 376 : Whoever, unnecessarily fires a gun in a town, village or an other place where there is conglomeration of people, shall be punished with imprisonment not exceeding ten days or fined not exceeding five hundred Baht, or both."

And confiscation of the weapon is normal.

Banglamung station duties for FPV started only 2 years ago so it must have been an individual assistant to the station in some capacity.

We work on a group rotation system and within that a group member rotation across 5 shifts a day over 2 stations and can each expect to work 4 or 6 times a month on average.

As for transnational departments, that can be assumed to be international law enforcement liaison for both follow up on international leads as well home based crimes that span overseas links. The only link to tourist police is that eventually any and all police groups are part of the national Thai police based in Bangkok and inter-department overlap can be expected and resources get shared.

At present I am an acting Group Leader for one of four groups of the Foreign Police Volunteers doing station duties in Pattaya and Banglamung - and some out of station duties when needed.

I shouldn't say more than that.

I am not an ex-policeman like some are but a long time resident of Thailand with Thai language skills that are often useful when interfacing with Thai police officers.

The Child Protection office at Banglamung plus TransNational divisions in Pattaya use the internet a lot and there are other police groups working drugs etc. that use that resource.

Yes, I wouldn't do it but .... there are police departments that have the duty to check all sorts of things on the internet but they tend to be Bangkok based.

I am not a Tourist police volunteer BTW.

Peace.

Sarcasm aside, you are surely not surprised how many people of all ages use their smart phones to deal with a host of things including Facebook messaging and general internet use like forums such as this. And I read many anti police posts here that seem - at best - indiscreet given that anyone can and does read them.