Pattaya police station is no joke

[dennis123]

Just got arrested on the 22nd, normally I manage to bribe my way out of the situation but not this time, had a few drinks too much and thought 5000 baht was enough, but the official fine for DUI with a car is 8500 baht, while at a motorbike it's 4500, strange dual pricing. Did some bargaining at the police station and this guy that earlier pretended to be arrested as well already said 5000 wasn't going to get me anywhere, but as I had no faith in him anymore I felt he was just pushing up the price.

 

Well I was wrong as soon I found myself in the prison block, and as it was a Saturday night I had to stay there till Monday morning as the court ain't open on Sundays.

 

Not here to complain though, my own fault, just stating some facts:

 

- No smoking allowed inside

- No drinking water supplied

- No food provided

 

Thankfully some Thai prisoners gave me water, and once every few hours they gave one other foreigner a cigarette that he shared with someone from India and me.

 

No beds, no mats to sleep on, no blankets, just a tiled floor, and that's it.

 

Don't lie to the judge

 

There was another guy from my country that denied he was driving under influence, because he was standing still with his motorbike (yeah right, who buys that crap) so the judge just let him rot in the cell for six more days, on his 7th day he was sent to immigration to be deported (no overstay, first time visitor to Thailand).

 

At some times you can order food from the guards, but some guards apparently bulk from money as they rather play video games and are busy on their phones so waving around with money is no solution. The only solution is to wait 8 hours for the new guards to come that do like to make some extra money so that you can order some food and drinks.

 

Sleeping wasn't possible and it was hot in the cell, lying on the floor, no pillow either obviously so everyone went shirtless and used their shirt as a pillow. I might've been able to sleep a bit if it wasn't for this crazy foreigner that was locked up solitarily and kept on yelling, screaming and talking to himself. He was walking around naked in his small cell, the only cell that was locked, and at some point, he took a piss, and 10 minutes later he laid down in his own piss as he probably got tired of himself ???? 

 

I didn't have my passport with me and had no one to visit me and pick up my passport at home to bring it with me so police officers made me the generous offer to join them in their police truck to pick up my passport for the modest fee of 4000 baht, and then came up with some other bullshit that they could give me priority in court for another 1500 baht.

 

But the court doesn't work like that, it's like a speed trial that works in three phases:

 

1) A quick document check, signing some papers

2) A speed-trial (no translator available so police officers suggested I just answered Yes to each question which I did, especially because of this other foreigner that denied the charges and got locked for a week + deportation)

3) Paying the fine

 

As for the priority service, yes I was second in line at step one & two, but I still had to wait for the other 25-30 people in court to complete phase 1 & 2 before I was able to pay the fine so this priority service was worthless. We entered the courthouse around 10AM I think and I left at 4PM, actually was able to buy some cigarettes from a guard inside the courthouse and was allowed to smoke at the toilet, so that was at least something, while the guards there smoked in the hallway at a spot with an air filter or something.

 

To enter the courthouse you need to pay 200 baht, and to leave court you also need to pay an exit fee of 200 baht, quite surprised by that but that's just pocket change at that point.

 

Then I had to pick up my car, vague instructions that my car was at Soi Kopai, but where at Soi Kopai??? Yeah Soi 9, but there is Soi 9, Soi 9/1, 9/2 and 9/3 I later found out, so back to the police station on beach road soi 9, where they wrote down the exact address and then back to Soi Kopai again. The correct address is Soi Kopai 9/3 in case you end up in the same situation, at the end of the soi is where they store all the motorbikes and cars.

 

Another 500 baht to release my car and that's the end of the story.

 

Because it's my first registered offense I had no risk of deportation, second offense is immediate deportation, well immediate, probably after spending a week in the Pattaya police cells and a few days at the IDC I suppose to get everything arranged.

 

Lesson learned? Always take a taxi from now on.

 

Actually my intention was to take a taxi that night but this damn motorbike taxi didn't know where Soi Khao Ta Lo or Pattaya East was and drove me straight to Jomtien where my car was parked, annoyed as I was I said okay <deleted> it, here you have your money, I drive home myself, big mistake. I could've provided instructions but we were with the three of us on the motorbike and I was pretty damn drunk so I didn't pay attention to where we were going.

 

Still surprised they don't provide free water + basic food but so be it, another guy said it's because of the weekend, the guards don't care, while from Mo-Fr they do bring in some water and the occasional food.

 

Long story short: it's my own fault of course but the atmosphere in prison is quite good, no intimidation like you would expect in a real prison, everyone was friendly and helpful, except for this one crazy foreigner that kept everyone awake so in the 2 nights I slept maybe 3 or 4 hours altogether. The toilet/shower is an open air toilet without door so you shouldn't be shy, no towels or soap provided of course so just a quick shower, put boxer short back on while wet, just sit, relax, wait to dry, it's hot enough in there, and then put the rest of your clothes on.

 

Altogether quite barbaric really with no food, drinks, no privacy to take a dump or shower but hey, This is Thailand ????

 

So be warned, and don't mess with the judge as he will mess you back!!!

[dennis123]

Oh, when we went to my home to pick up my passport I grabbed a pack of cigarettes and thought that after I paid the 4000 baht tip they would give me a break and not check me when going back inside the cell block, wrong thought, however I did manage to sneak in a strip of Clonazepam and shared it with some of my fellow prisoners that were all too happy with it ???? the police guys did give me a break downstairs the prison block to smoke some cigarettes and have some chit-chat before going back inside.

 

One experience richer after six years in Thailand!

 

One last thing: 2 nights in a police prison block or about 30 hours literally feels like a week.

Edited December 26, 2018 by dennis123

[OneZero]

Good report.  Be educated. Be warned.

[BestB]

I do not want to be the one to tell you but it’s not over yet. A fax was sent to immigration also, it’s a procedure.

 

Did you get your passport back yet? If not , it’s not going to be as easy as you think. 

 

You may also require a letter from court stating judge does not oppose your visa extension when it’s comes to renewing. 

Edited December 27, 2018 by BestB

[Hayduke]

3 hours ago, dennis123 said:

Just got arrested on the 22nd, normally I manage to bribe my way out of the situation but not this time...

 

If this sort of thing is normal....you may be living a little too close to the edge.

 

[rhodie]

Great report thanks mate. How did they test you? Breath, blood or no test, just drinking and guilty.

[dennis123]

2 hours ago, BestB said:

I do not want to be the one to tell you but it’s not over yet. A fax was sent to immigration also, it’s a procedure.

 

Did you get your passport back yet? If not , it’s not going to be as easy as you think. 

 

You may also require a letter from court stating judge does not oppose your visa extension when it’s comes to renewing. 

Only the police kept my passport to make copies for documentation, they returned it to me before we went to court. No idea about a letter, I don't even have a receipt for the 8500 fine I paid in court.

Edited December 27, 2018 by dennis123

[dennis123]

2 hours ago, Hayduke said:

 

If this sort of thing is normal....you may be living a little too close to the edge.

 

Yeah time to stop doing this, now it's taxi 100% of the time, don't want to get deported.

[dennis123]

2 hours ago, rhodie said:

Great report thanks mate. How did they test you? Breath, blood or no test, just drinking and guilty.

Breathalyzer test only, I think the outcome was quite accurate.

[dreaming]

Thanks for the report dennis. Hopefully a place none of us get to see. I cant believe they dont give you water. Sounds like being stuck in there during the hotter months would be very uncomfortable.

 

Do you reckon if you paid the 8500 baht up front you would have got off immediately?

[dennis123]

12 minutes ago, dreaming said:

Thanks for the report dennis. Hopefully a place none of us get to see. I cant believe they dont give you water. Sounds like being stuck in there during the hotter months would be very uncomfortable.

 

Do you reckon if you paid the 8500 baht up front you would have got off immediately?

I think 10k would have done the job.

[Spidey]

10k baht would have fixed it at the roadside. I've heard of people getting fined 20k in court and ordered to do some sort of course. You got off lightly.

 

Lesson learned, always have 10k available if you're going to be naughty. They will let you use nearby ATM.

 

Also, Christmas/New Year, the police are particularly hot on the Darkside for drink/driving.

 

Driving from Jontien, at Christmas, at night, whilst hammered was madness.

Edited December 27, 2018 by Spidey

[CharlieH]

Thanks for the report, I am sure others will appreciate the 1st hand experience and hopefully learn from it.

 

 

[dennis123]

3 minutes ago, Spidey said:

10k baht would have fixed it at the roadside. I've heard of people getting fined 20k in court and ordered to do some sort of course. You got off lightly.

 

Lesson learned, always have 10k available if you're going to be naughty. They will let you use nearby ATM.

 

Also, Christmas/New Year, the police are particularly hot on the Darkside for drink/driving.

Yes, that was a little odd, police said I should get 20k from the ATM as the fine could vary from 8500 up to 20k, I wonder what that depends upon because it sounded very strange to me. Judge appeared like a reasonable man, he even smiled, but as said earlier, no fooling around.

[Spidey]

2 minutes ago, dennis123 said:

Yes, that was a little odd, police said I should get 20k from the ATM as the fine could vary from 8500 up to 20k, I wonder what that depends upon because it sounded very strange to me. Judge appeared like a reasonable man, he even smiled, but as said earlier, no fooling around.

Probably imbibed with the Christmas spirit!

[Guderian]

Interesting report, thanks. What happens if, say, you're diabetic or have some other condition that requires medication every 12 hours. Do they let you pick it up from home (presumably for a fee) or are you just left to die? If they won't even give you drinking water then I can't imagine they'll provide free insulin, or whatever else you may need.

[from the home of CC]

If you can't handle the drugs you ingest why endanger others on the road?

[Sealbash]

Interesting report, thanks. What happens if, say, you're diabetic or have some other condition that requires medication every 12 hours. Do they let you pick it up from home (presumably for a fee) or are you just left to die? If they won't even give you drinking water then I can't imagine they'll provide free insulin, or whatever else you may need.

Or perhaps just take some responsibility and don’t drive drunk?


Sent from my iPhone using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[dennis123]

45 minutes ago, Guderian said:

Interesting report, thanks. What happens if, say, you're diabetic or have some other condition that requires medication every 12 hours. Do they let you pick it up from home (presumably for a fee) or are you just left to die? If they won't even give you drinking water then I can't imagine they'll provide free insulin, or whatever else you may need.

Pretty sure they let you pick it up for a heavy fee yes.

 

Initially, they wanted to let me go on my own for a deposit of 30,000 baht that would be returned to me, like some sort of dubious bail arranged by themselves, so then I said okay where's my car key? I thought my car would be parked there at the police station, didn't realize it would be at Soi Kopai, so they went back to discuss, then asked if I had someone to bring it, and then offered to pick it up together under the idea of we help you, you help us.

 

Still pissed off about this as it started with 2000 baht, and then they needed another 1000 baht for their boss, and another 1000 baht for the one who prepares the papers for the court, and then this 1500 for priority service, definitely got extorted big time by those <deleted>. I could've refused the priority service of course, but not so sure what would happen if I refused to pay 1000 for their boss, and 1000 for filing the papers. You're pretty much at the mercy of a bunch of corrupt cops.

 

When we arrived at my home I changed clothes, grabbed some medicine and water, and then offered them 10k to call it quits, but it was already too late for that and they brushed it off with 'don't worry, tomorrow morning after court you're free', not so long anymore.

 

Got to admit they did search my car for my passport as they showed my car passport later on, my blue registration book was inside as well so guess they just wanted to confirm my identity up front, and I showed them my Dutch driver license so initially, there was no rush to show/get my passport, guess they already put me in the system based on my name/address in the blue book, and same name in car passport and on driver license. In the car passport, they could see that I just arrived from the Laos border so they already knew I wasn't on overstay. I just see a copy passport photo page (not the visa page) + rental contract was also in my car dashboard so they had all the information they needed already but guess they needed a copy visa page for court.

Edited December 27, 2018 by dennis123

[dennis123]

24 minutes ago, Guderian said:

Interesting report, thanks. What happens if, say, you're diabetic or have some other condition that requires medication every 12 hours. Do they let you pick it up from home (presumably for a fee) or are you just left to die? If they won't even give you drinking water then I can't imagine they'll provide free insulin, or whatever else you may need.

The normal procedure is to have people bring it to you, usually, I always take my phone with me when I go out but this time I left my phone at home so I couldn't contact anyone. I also saw people bring food and drinks to other inmates.

 

What is also surprising is that the police doesn't tell you a thing, they just lock you up and that's it, zero information provided, later on I saw that there was a foreign volunteer that spoke with some prisoners and when he was about to leave I grabbed his attention about what was going to happen/procedure and he explained court would be open on Monday and besides a fine no further consequences on first offense.

[Guderian]

1 hour ago, Sealbash said:

Or perhaps just take some responsibility and don’t drive drunk?


Sent from my iPhone using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

Oh, perhaps you don't realise that you can be arrested and slung in jail for a number of offences, not just drink-driving?

[Guderian]

58 minutes ago, dennis123 said:

The normal procedure is to have people bring it to you, usually, I always take my phone with me when I go out but this time I left my phone at home so I couldn't contact anyone. I also saw people bring food and drinks to other inmates.

 

What is also surprising is that the police doesn't tell you a thing, they just lock you up and that's it, zero information provided, later on I saw that there was a foreign volunteer that spoke with some prisoners and when he was about to leave I grabbed his attention about what was going to happen/procedure and he explained court would be open on Monday and besides a fine no further consequences on first offense.

Many years ago I read in one of the local papers about the signing of papers that you mentioned in the OP, everything in Thai and with no explanation. The problem is that one or more of these is likely to be a confession, and in a serious case, perhaps if you're accused of selling drugs or worse, you probably wouldn't want to sign that. But if you won't sign then they just leave you locked up, so it's all a bit Catch 22. Did you find out afterwards what the papers you signed were?

[fforest1]

Did some bargaining at the police station 

 

This my friend  is your problem....NEVER NEVER NEVER.... Let yourself go to the Police Station.......ALWAYS pay before the Police Station if at all possible if even remotely possible....

 

 

 

Edited December 27, 2018 by fforest1

[dennis123]

17 minutes ago, Guderian said:

Many years ago I read in one of the local papers about the signing of papers that you mentioned in the OP, everything in Thai and with no explanation. The problem is that one or more of these is likely to be a confession, and in a serious case, perhaps if you're accused of selling drugs or worse, you probably wouldn't want to sign that. But if you won't sign then they just leave you locked up, so it's all a bit Catch 22. Did you find out afterwards what the papers you signed were?

I only signed papers at court, didn't give it a close look but it just looked like some formality instead of a confession. Why else answer questions from the judge if the confession is already signed. Same like when you go to immigration and put your signature on all the documents. If it was a more serious case I would've gotten a lawyer of course.

[dennis123]

7 minutes ago, fforest1 said:

Did some bargaining at the police station 

 

This my friend is your problem....NEVER NEVER NEVER.... Let yourself go to the Police Station.......ALWAYS pay before the Police Station if at all possible...

I did all the bargaining I could outside the police station but it was no option at all. Straight into the police truck, everything I said got completely ignored. It appeared that the bargaining was supposed to happen at the police station with one of their seniors. Likely there was a police senior on the spot that kept an eye on things.

 

Maybe because it's peak season they didn't want to give off the wrong impression to genuine tourists.

Edited December 27, 2018 by dennis123

[AGareth2]

2 hours ago, Spidey said:

10k baht would have fixed it at the roadside

inflation i suppose

[giddyup]

No loss of licence for DUI? A Mate just got pinged in Australia for changing lanes without due care. Fined A$390 or roughly 9000 baht. I imagine a DUI is going to set you back a lot more than 10,000 baht.

[dennis123]

Interesting fact I didn't mention, when I got arrested I had a boy from Sunee plaza with me for the night, and he later told me that when he left the police followed him all the way, he was scared of going home so he returned to Sunee.

 

Another interesting fact, one of the police agents that drove me home to pick up my passport was gay and asked me for my phone number and added me on Line, and sends me messages lol, of him going out, drinking with foreigners etc. He also told me, if you have a problem with police next time call me and I come to help you out ???? yeah at what extreme cost this time.

[Halfaboy]

Thanks for sharing. Would be interested to know how many drinks you had (if you can remember).

 

Have fun....

[dennis123]

2 minutes ago, giddyup said:

No loss of licence for DUI? A Mate just got pinged in Australia for changing lanes without due care. Fined A$390 or roughly 9000 baht. I imagine a DUI is going to set you back a lot more than 10,000 baht.

My Thai driver license is expired so I had two confessions to make, which sowed some confusion but a friendly Thai helped me out by explaining that part and then the judge and me both kind of laughed it off. Hence the smiling I mentioned earlier.