watcharacters Posted January 31, 2018 Share Posted January 31, 2018 Do they have any influence or authority? Do they only assist drunk people who have caused issues? I have seen them but never had any dealings with them. What do they do and what can they do? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cucme Posted February 1, 2018 Share Posted February 1, 2018 They are all policemen / -women. They have guns. The can arrest you. Usually they will call normal police to handle you, meaning fine you and arrest you, or whatever. They do all the paper work for foreigners. Do not mix up with tourist police volunteers, widely seen in Pattaya. They cannot do anything without a regular tourist police officer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ulic Posted February 1, 2018 Share Posted February 1, 2018 Not sure, but I have encountered them at checkpoints where police are checking drivers for impaired driving. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackdd Posted February 1, 2018 Share Posted February 1, 2018 1 hour ago, cucme said: They are all policemen / -women. They have guns. The can arrest you. Usually they will call normal police to handle you, meaning fine you and arrest you, or whatever. They do all the paper work for foreigners. Do not mix up with tourist police volunteers, widely seen in Pattaya. They cannot do anything without a regular tourist police officer. That's also my understanding. The "volunteers" (foreigners) are just there to assist, but they don't have any more rights than every other normal person. Generally the tourist police is more on the side of tourists, so if you ever have any argument, especially with a Thai person, and need the police it's better to contact them first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anfh Posted February 1, 2018 Share Posted February 1, 2018 ThE Toursist Police dont have guns as they dont have powers of arrest etc and do not get involved in criminal activities etc. They are an arm of the RTP set up to help and advise tourists etc. there are western Thai Police Volunteers who are also there to advise and assist tourists etc. They have no power of arrest, and should have an official Thai Tourist Police officer with them. They also have no power of arrest. Only bonafide RTP canarrest you etc, and they are also tho only ones with guns. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackdd Posted February 1, 2018 Share Posted February 1, 2018 23 minutes ago, anfh said: ThE Toursist Police dont have guns as they dont have powers of arrest etc and do not get involved in criminal activities etc. They are an arm of the RTP set up to help and advise tourists etc. there are western Thai Police Volunteers who are also there to advise and assist tourists etc. They have no power of arrest, and should have an official Thai Tourist Police officer with them. They also have no power of arrest. Only bonafide RTP canarrest you etc, and they are also tho only ones with guns. At least about the guns you are wrong: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edwardflory Posted February 1, 2018 Share Posted February 1, 2018 (edited) The Tourist Police are one of the 3 MAIN divisions of the RTP - there are many sub-divisions or the RTP. Tourist Police CAN arrest, they ARE police officers. USUALLY the Tourist Police engage mainly with tourists, but also do investigations. FTPA are Foreign Assistants, volunteers, with MANY different languages spoken, mainly to assist police with a language problem. TPV and TPA are Thai Volunteers, some speak several languages, mainly English. A TPA, TPV or FTPA person can "detain" a person for further investigation, IF the DUTY OFFICER, COMMANDER, COMMAND LEVEL OFFICER, INSPECTOR or REGULAR Tourist Police officer ← very rare, gives them a particular task ( ORDERS ) to preform - but ONLY during the persons tour of duty OR the task is completed. Edited February 1, 2018 by edwardflory As do info Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maximillian Posted February 1, 2018 Share Posted February 1, 2018 I consider them useless. Needed a certificate of life for my pension insurance. Asked immigration for a signature and a stamp on said form. They sent me to Tourist Police. Tourist Police said they will only do it for the handicapped people who cannot travel to BKK to get the stamp from their embassy. Finally I got my stamp from a post office. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KBsinter Posted February 1, 2018 Share Posted February 1, 2018 Well, they where one of the groups that raided my bar, looking for some dough they are part of the RTP, NO DIFFERENCE to any of the others, about 3 of them had English speaking skills, LONG STORY................lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MyFriend You Posted February 1, 2018 Share Posted February 1, 2018 45 minutes ago, edwardflory said: The Tourist Police are one of the 3 MAIN divisions of the RTP - there are many sub-divisions or the RTP. Tourist Police CAN arrest, they ARE police officers. USUALLY the Tourist Police engage mainly with tourists, but also do investigations. FTPA are Foreign Assistants, volunteers, with MANY different languages spoken, mainly to assist police with a language problem. TPV and TPA are Thai Volunteers, some speak several languages, mainly English. A TPA, TPV or FTPA person can "detain" a person for further investigation, IF the DUTY OFFICER, COMMANDER, COMMAND LEVEL OFFICER, INSPECTOR or REGULAR Tourist Police officer ← very rare, gives them a particular task ( ORDERS ) to preform - but ONLY during the persons tour of duty OR the task is completed. I was out on Wlking Street with a Danish guy who is well known in Pats, he comes to Thailand to fish - he stopped and started speaking Danish to one of the Tourist police he knew, another one was speaking French to an African guy, Hell, I felt out of place only speaking Thai and English. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TallGuyJohninBKK Posted February 1, 2018 Share Posted February 1, 2018 They are regular police, part of RTP, and they do carry guns. I'm talking about the official Thai Tourist Police officers, not the foreign volunteers, who sometimes THINK and ACT like they're real police even though they're not. I believe, there was a proposal lately to shift the Tourist Police to the Ministry of Tourism or some similar place, and out of the RTP as part of a broader reorganization, but not sure whether that's going anywhere or not. In my experience, I've found them pretty useless. Try getting an English speaker to answer their Tourist Police hotline number. A lot of the field officers don't speak any English either, even in Bangkok. And of course, there have been claims that some of them too are involved in various scams aimed at tourists, particularly regarding the jewelry shopping junket scams. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edwardflory Posted February 1, 2018 Share Posted February 1, 2018 """not the foreign volunteers, who sometimes THINK and ACT like they're real police even though they're not.""" A TPA, TPV or FTPA→→FOREIGN TOURIST POLICE ASSISTANT ←←person →CAN← "detain" a person for further investigation, IF the DUTY OFFICER, COMMANDER, COMMAND LEVEL OFFICER, INSPECTOR or REGULAR Tourist Police officer ← very rare, gives them a→→→ particular task ( ORDERS ) to preform - but ONLY during the persons tour of duty OR the task is completed.←←← Hopefull clear now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
natway09 Posted February 1, 2018 Share Posted February 1, 2018 Do not have power of arrest ???? Do not push your luck son!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hupaponics Posted February 1, 2018 Share Posted February 1, 2018 I would like to be a volunteer with the traffic police. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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