Thai cops struggling under debt totalling Bt270bn, says police chief

[ChipButty]

6 minutes ago, scorecard said:

On the other hand, when the Yingluck gov't was thrown out some army officers appeared very quickly at a big house occupied by a snr cop, near my house, in my village in CM. 24/7 always numerous police luxury cars, pick ups, tow trucks etc., parked in the street, blocking driveways etc. 

 

Snr Cop was taken away surrounded by army personnel with rifles etc. Many snr/jnr cops had arrived and were outside the house along with many police vehicles. They made no attempt to interfere.

 

A couple of days later it appeared in the Thai press, the cop taken away was charged with massive corruption, plus charges relating to using large amounts of police resources (vehicles, equipment, officers) on a permanent basis to run his numerous 'activities'. 

 

Further, it had been established that he had a personal body guard / helpers team of 12 men (civilians) and most of the police vehicles were being driven by his civilian team. One luxury car always on stand by with uniformed driver to take his wife shopping etc., and to take/pick up his kids to/from school.  

 

Within about 2 days the family moved out, never seen again.

 

A few months later snr cop discharged from RTP and jailed for 20+ years.

 

At that time I took 2 of my grandkids to school every morning and picked them up in the afternoon. In the afternoon many farang dads/grandfathers/ and a few Thai men gathered to chat and wait for school to finish. 

 

Just after the snr cop above was taken away one of the Thai men who spoke good English (turned out to be a retired snr cop) mentioned that the snr cop taken away was just the tip of the iceberg. 

 

Is that it? I was waiting for some gossip

[multatuli]

13 hours ago, fondue zoo said:

How does a police chief know about the financial status of all his officers?  

Easy: they take loans from government banks. I think teachers are much worse as far as taking out loans goes

[jackdd]

28 minutes ago, Asquith Production said:

This is what Goggle says. 

A person working as a Police Officer in Thailand typically earns around 60,400 THB per month. Salaries range from 27,800 THB (lowest) to 96,000 THB (highest).

This is the average monthly salary including housing, transport, and other benefits. Police Officer salaries vary drastically based on experience, skills, gender, or location.

http://www.salaryexplorer.com/salary-survey.php?loc=215&loctype=1&job=504&jobtype=3

Don't believe everything that Google says, because this information is wrong.

[ChipButty]

13 hours ago, Surelynot said:

I have "lent" them some money once or twice....not expecting to get it back.

That applies to all Thais doesn't it?

[chicowoodduck]

Oh my Buddha.....time for some larger brown envelopes.....????????????

[Peterh71]

Just now, Peterh71 said:

So if 230,000 police officers, each one has just over a billion baht of debt! Am I correct.

 

[MJrocs]

I have a pretty good hunch I know where that new airport fee is going to go

[Asquith Production]

1 minute ago, jackdd said:

Don't believe everything that Google says, because this information is wrong.

Okay what do they earn?

[kensisaket]

News fact, this is the same guy who suspended roadside checks/speed traps.  All those "debts" weren't a problem before that.  That's a pretty good testimony to exactly how much they were collecting/pocketing.  

[itsari]

13 hours ago, TVGerry said:

If you can't afford it, why are you buying large items like cars and houses in the first place?

Way the economies work today . It is not just the police officers in debt . The whole country has problems with debt . Just a matter of time before the situation with the banks becomes unsustainable . 

[transam]

Shouldn't officers be the same as anybody else out there and live their life according to income and budget accordingly.

What should be looked at is those giving out loans to those who probably can't afford long term repayments...

 

Live within your means chaps....????

[jackdd]

4 minutes ago, Asquith Production said:

Okay what do they earn?

They start at about 9000 a month, this increases over the years, when they are in their thirties the majority of them is somewhere between 20k and 30k, depending on their rank.

High ranking generals shortly before retiring can get close to 60k.

[johnarth]

little or no brown envelopes. I have been warning about what is going to happen when all governments say covid 19 is under control, the banks will ask for payback, and worst of all the world banks are gearing up a one of currency unit for the world while covid 19 is on, and of course they are going to put there hands out to all counties for payback, bad times are coming, the corrupt and greedy in payback for the first time, where are they going to get the money?

[MasterBaker]

just assign them to the traffic post a week, problem solved

[TacoKhun]

14 hours ago, Sametboy2019 said:

The police chief said he has asked Krungthai Bank and the Government Savings Bank to suspend debt payments

 

Of course! Normal people's possessions will be repossessed if they don't pay but the Police should be exempt?

Covid really has hit those brown envelopes.

 

 

 

when you could not repay loan is one thing, when police office cant it is become more complicated. They have more power than you and they may resort to using it in way you wont like.

[SymS]

That's about 1.3 million Baht debt per officer. Well done!

[Mr Meeseeks]

Karma is real.

 

Didn't the Buddha say life is suffering?

 

You've had your time driving vehicles you can't afford and living a lifestyle you did not earn.

 

Time to pay for it all. 

[dcnx]

Let them eat dirt. Zero sympathy.

[david555]

Could the pandemic closure of bars ,massage places , and "fishbowls have "something to do with it maybe ?  ????

[hotchilli]

15 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Suwat told Thansettakij newspaper that around 209,000 officers had taken loans to support their family or to purchase large items such as cars or houses.

Ohhhh dear the usual income stream has been somewhat disrupted for the last 12 months... now the debt is mounting.

[hotchilli]

15 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

“I will not hide anything and am ready for all questions,” he said.

That could be embarrassing.

[hotchilli]

15 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

He is also seeking ways of generating more revenue for his subordinates. One idea is to set up a market for police spouses to run businesses.

My local plods missus does already...

I won't say exactly what it is she does but if you think of a large predator that swims in the ocean you won't be far off the mark.

[FunkyDunky58]

A good start for these poor poor policemen will be to hand in their Mercedes,  go and pawn all the gold that seems to drape their necks and wrists, and then see where they are. In my district there are many party houses owned by cops, bars owned by cops, restaurants owned by cops, and none of them live in modest accommodation. Zero sympathy. I met a cop who bragged that he had 8 wives and was looking for number 9. Their source of extortion has dried up and now this moron thinks that institutions should bail the out. I know they hate to lose face but didn't know they HAVE so much of it in the first place.

[scorecard]

1 hour ago, ChipButty said:

Is that it? I was waiting for some gossip

Over to you...

[flyfrog]

Time to open the bars. Tea money is needed????

[Tbone999]

I find this all rather nauseous, don't see much of a helping hand for the rest of the population, but they're trying to get scholarships for their kids and appropriate property that doesn't belong to them, all because their brothers decided to get in over their heads in debt? I didn't read anywhere that their pay packets were reduced during the present troubles. There's millions of jobless with nothing, but they get left out. Disgusting.

[quake]

Finally,  a good news thread. 

[japanese]

Time for my new charity - Adopt-a-Cop.

 

Will work similarly to those adopt a starving child charities.

 

You will get a photo of your adopted cop and occasional correspondence and related citations.

[Advocate]

It's trivial. Its only about 1.3 million Baht each.

 

I bet the top police have much more than that, maybe even beyond 10 million baht each.

[Monkeyrobot]

I took a loan to buy my house and car ,nobody helped me no did I ask for help.