Thai police in massive debt - they owe 270 billion baht

[mikebell]

Debt is a genetic Thai malady; farmers; teachers; students and now police.  The usual solution is to write off the debt in part or total.  This enables the disease to mutate and affect other sections of the community.  The cure is to take back the luxury items like phones/cars/jewelry until the complete debt is paid.

[Jack West Jr]

I've no clue as to how any of you have been treated by the police in Thailand but as a retired foreigner I have always been dealt with with the utmost courtesy and respect .

Why don't they just ask Anutin to settle their debt ? He's a billionaire, isn't he ? 

[jacko45k]

21 hours ago, Dmaxdan said:

Time for an increase in their tea money charges? 

Time to sell a few Ferraris.

[Darkside Gray]

Loans breeding corruption!

[big dendrobenaes]

the finance companies are at fault......FOR not doing proper background checks on the coppers who applied for any loan/loans.......

[sambum]

15 hours ago, Mr Meeseeks said:

Paying more doesn't work when the education system is so poor and corruption is so pervasive. The quality simply isn't there and the temptation for graft too great.

 

Not only that, but the RTP are not the same as Police in the West, here they were thugs employed to protect the rich merchant classes, so modern Policing is almost an alien concept for them, indeed, for most it is an anathema.

I agree with most of what you say, and this is why I used the word "might" in my post. 

 

Obviously the problem can not be fixed by simply paying them more money - as you say the temptation for graft is too great, so they would probably just take the extra cash, and buy themselves a bigger house/car on "tick".

 

For the extra cash to make any real difference it would have to come along with certain responsibilities - like doing the job they are supposed to be doing, (preventing crime?)  and if found guilty of corruption or misbehaviour, end this practice of moving them to an "inactive" post, which in lots of cases probably means just moving them on to a different area/precinct. And stop this practice of "buying" promotions. 

 

Unfortunately, this would appear to be an almost impossible task as that system seems to be endemic in all Thai walks of life, all the way down from the top. How else would a "billionaire builder" get a job as Minister of Health, for instance. And how would a Minister "acquire" a substantial number of luxury watches and not declare them as assets beore taking up his post? ("I borrowed them from a friend") Oh, yeah? Right - who borrows watches (plural) from a friend? Why didn't you give them back to him? ("I can't, he's dead, and anyway, I forgot about them") Oh yeah - right again! 

 

As you suggest, better education would help, but I feel that the ruling classes don't want that for the working classes, it would mean that they might have to start paying higher wages to educated police officers - hmmm? ("Do not pass "Go" and do not collect $200" springs to mind!)

 

A bit of a Catch 22 situation, I'm afraid!

 

Edited January 7, 2022 by sambum

[spidermike007]

The RTP at it's inception seems to have been created with a status quo from the government. We will NOT pay you a living wage, but you have a franchise, and the limit of your income is based solely on your own creativity and initiative, and you will always be protected. Is that not the case? 

 

Where would you begin to change that culture? You know where? You would double all salaries. And invest in modern equipment, forensic labs and an effective highway patrol. Probably a trillion baht to start.

 

[hottrader77]

23 hours ago, Denim said:

It means individual police officers , using their position as government employees , have taken out private loans to buy cars and homes etc but are struggling to make repayments having bitten off more than they can chew.

 

 

not the police force as such.

Why don't they pay the police a decent wage instead of corrupting their own comrades

[steven100]

obviously it's not being individually managed correctly,  they need to get Joe Ferrari in to shown them how it's done.

[puck2]

Thai police in debt?

That cannot be true. Do you remember the suffocation-story of the police officer in Nakhon Sawan?

 

The police in debt(?), maybe they never receive enough in spite of the tea money.

 

But not everywhere. Here in the Pang Mapha area they control the traffic-people only one time in the year: on December 29, the start of the 5 dangerous New Year Days, especially for wearing helmets.

 

I know 2 police men here in our village. One has his house just accros a waterfall creek, mostly dry. The wife of the other one has a shop/restaurant on the main road. Both have a very good character. Never heared or experienced that they asked for a tea money. We had a lot of mud in front of a bridge over the stream leading to the center of the village, our nighbour helped us to clean. Never high nose.

 

Edited January 7, 2022 by puck2

[deathstardan]

This is just my personal experience/observations only.

I have lived in Bangkok  since 2003. I have owned, rode and driven cars and motorcycles all of that time.
For a few years ,I was constantly stopped in either car or bike ( rightly or wrongly ) and always ended up paying by the road somehow.
I haven't been stopped in years now, maybe  7 or 8. I hardly ever see a road block. I drive EVERYDAY!

I have come to the conclusion that because of the leaps and bounds in recording equipment technology  in phones and vehicles etc. They now think it's not worth the hassle of roadside tea money and they are suffering as this was maybe a big earner.

I could be totally wrong though and have no idea what I am talking about....lol!

[NoshowJones]

On 1/6/2022 at 10:11 AM, Mavideol said:

one has to wonder who and where/which pockets ALL that side boosting income goes.... with the amount of $$$$$ corruption they collect/grab it is hard to believe they are on the red, somebody is not sharing

That would be the Maj/Gens, Lt/Cols etc. They needed the money to buy their fancy ranks. Then there is all the fancy uniforms and bling.

[tonray]

5 hours ago, Jack West Jr said:

I've no clue as to how any of you have been treated by the police in Thailand but as a retired foreigner I have always been dealt with with the utmost courtesy and respect .

Why don't they just ask Anutin to settle their debt ? He's a billionaire, isn't he ? 

How about cutting a deal with the Red Bull fugitive ? He pays down their debt or some portion of it and gets to walk free.  Oh wait...he gets that now with paying anything

[NoshowJones]

On 1/6/2022 at 11:28 AM, Mr Meeseeks said:

Much easier to go after:

Land owned illegally by foreigners in company name

Majority foreign businesses with nominee shareholders

Foreigners working without permits

Foreigners here without correct visas or on overstays

Foreign businesses contravening the Alien Business Act etc.

 

You can be sure they won't suffer when there's plenty of foreigners breaking the rules left to extort 

Rules made by the government and other authorities should always be obeyed and anyone who breaks them should be ashamed of themselves.

[NoshowJones]

On 1/6/2022 at 11:34 AM, smedly said:

lack of foreign tourists might have something to do with it

and also expats who have been driven out by all the hoop jumping they have had to do over the years by this soldiers government.

[NoshowJones]

On 1/6/2022 at 1:02 PM, thaitom said:

Ask for a loan from the police guy whats his name Mercedes ? the one with all the cars.

That would be Joe Ferrari. 

[NoshowJones]

On 1/6/2022 at 1:30 PM, edwinchester said:

Simple, just fine every single man woman and child in Thailand 4000 bht each and it's paid off.

Yes, and then it will have to be done again for the armed services.

[NoshowJones]

On 1/6/2022 at 2:08 PM, inThailand said:

Is Gen Wizard behind the curtain upset because it's the government that has let them this money? Same as where the teachers get their loans from. No bank is going to loan this amount of money to someone who has no collateral, ie no assets to secure the loans. It's the govt who gets screwed when these loans are defaulted on. 

The soldiers government getting screwed?? The Chuckle Brothers themselves could use some of their small change to clear of all their loans.

[sambum]

52 minutes ago, tonray said:

How about cutting a deal with the Red Bull fugitive ? He pays down their debt or some portion of it and gets to walk free.  Oh wait...he gets that now with paying anything

I think you mean "without paying anything" and I wouldn't be sure about that being right either!

[edwinchester]

24 minutes ago, possum1931 said:

Yes, and then it will have to be done again for the armed services.

Don't forget the teachers.

[tonray]

19 minutes ago, sambum said:

I think you mean "without paying anything" and I wouldn't be sure about that being right either!

Danged auto-correct. @#$$@#! 

[sead]

On 1/6/2022 at 4:35 AM, david555 said:

Maybe they invested in good money making businesses before  .... who are now closed and  no tourists enough anymore because pandemic , to payback the investments loans ????

Oh they all have shares in bars, nightclubs, disco's ago and even the damn market etc. At least in Pattaya

[Phredd]

Could some dirty farrang organise a Go Fund Me for them? 

[mran66]

22 hours ago, herfiehandbag said:

I understand, and have had it described to me, as a system very similar to "prize money" in the Navy during the times of the Napoleonic wars.

 

If a ship was captured it was sold, at auction, along with it's cargo, as a prize. The money was divided, 10% to the Admiral commanding, 30% to the Captain of the capturing ship, 30% amongst the officers, and the rest shared out amongst the crew.

 

Apparently the police here operate a similar system with their various "informal income streams" - the role of the Admiral being filled by Provincial and Regional offices, the Captain, officers and crew being the Police Station.

All properly codified of course, and no doubt internally audited, if not (obviously) published!

 

The reason that the "inactive post" is a punishment is that it removes one from the distribution network.

 

The network of "income streams" is very comprehensive. Any street based business- food stall or peddler selling on or onto the pavement, and any business in any way connected with "entertainment" and/or which requires licencing will be subject to a levy. It amounts to - very - big money, especially in a holiday resort such as Pattaya. Up country perhaps less lucrative, which is why it costs a lot more to land the OC's job in for example Jomtien than in "Nakon Nowhere". Either way it is a good earner, and much of the senior management's time and energy is devoted to developing and supervising these "income streams".

 

Thanks - any idea about the flow of funds buying positions i.e the internal revenue source/stream, any idea about that? 

[tezzaaa]

Maybe they could sell their YMCA outfits as collector's items? Some yanks would shell a lot of money for them I'm sure..????

[garyk]

Curious, how much does it cost to buy into a policeman's uniform now??

My GF's cousin or someone in the family bought the position a few years ago and If I remember it was kinda pricy.

Mom, Dad, brothers , sisters and whoever they could borrow from was giving money to get him in. 

About 15 years ago my then GF wanted to transfer to a different school. She was a teacher. I can't remember how much it was but she was trying to borrow 50K baht from me for the transfer. She could not raise the money and another friend bought the position. 

Edited January 8, 2022 by garyk

[metisdead]

Some baiting posts with personal insults have been removed. 

[Huckenfell]

Install speed cameras and make a fortune within months

 

[DonniePeverley]

Start fining those without masks would be a good income generator. 

[Huckenfell]

On 1/7/2022 at 7:36 PM, sead said:

Oh they all have shares in bars, nightclubs, disco's ago and even the damn market etc. At least in Pattaya

But all that money goes into pockets of higher echlon inviduals , not the Police Force