What to do if Thai police stop you and attempt a ‘shake-down’

[SpanishExpat]

Happened to me once…showed them the business card of a friend of my wife and me, who works in a high position in one of the Thai ministries. Smiled and asked, if they want me to call him, but things would  go a different way then ????

It worked without the call and just shows how scared those morons are , as soon as the situation gets challenging.

 

they know exactly when/if they are doing illegal stuff, but expect westerners to be helpless in such situations.

 

Apart from that, all my other situations with the Thai police where normal/smooth though.

[connda]

Let my wife handle it.

[n00dle]

19 hours ago, Upnotover said:

telling them you are "waiting for a consular official" will cut it, at certainly if they see you are a Brit.

what does being a brit have to do with anything?

[n00dle]

7 minutes ago, connda said:

Let my wife handle it.

indeed, it is always better to depend on others to navigate life for you.

[n00dle]

5 hours ago, cheapcanuck said:

How about "Not go to Thailand altogether. Bypass this lawless country and go elsewhere."

oki doks. 

be seeing ya.

[nigelforbes]

20 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Who do you think controls the drug trade in Thailand? Or lots of other organized crime?

I know a guy who used to be a loan shark in Thailand. Guess who his partner was to enforce the payments?

Obviously I don't know the percentage of corrupt police in this country. But I know that the Thai traffic police stopped me at least 100 times over the years (mostly for not riding on the left lane with my bike). I remember exactly one case (1!) where a police officer didn't want cash without receipt. 

If you've been stopped 100 times you must be a right dodgy geezer. And if you can't learn what side of the road to drive on, why should we believe that you have the skill to decide who controls all the drug trade her, sheesh guy!!!  ????

[n00dle]

15 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

So.. How to avoid an attempted shakedown ? - The best defence is to have the number of a police friend, preferably a senior one...  

personally despite having such friends, I would never waste their time for a taxi stop. Things would need to very serious before i would play that card, chicken little.

The friends i have would likely laugh at me as they know I am well capable of navigating a simple police stop.

[liddelljohn]

The cops here dont just try it on with tourists and foreigners , they do the same to Thais , but the Thais seem to have ways of deflecting the cops using humour , influence  or acting dumb

 

for my self I find out quickly if officer can speak english , if he cant I act dumb pretending not to understand  anything , they usually get bored  and also see other potential victims passing by  so give up.  f officer speaks english , and its a shakedown  i will either do some  Pamot stuff and mumble things in welsh or ancient hebrew ,, they  usually get spooked as do most Thais and back off ,, or trump them with my soldier  and police biker pals who are senior officers , if they are fake cops ,,they can go to hell in an ambulance

 

If im genuinely in the wrong  I will negotiate ....or pay ticket at station 

 

There is one traffic  Officer based in Chonburi who is a notorious scammer , interesting thing is that although he is now in his late 40s he is still only a leiutenant  when he should be captain or major but he is very wealthy and HISO  looks like a movie star  , he is actually despised by many of his  co workers ,but he is connected to the Kunphloen family ,, he has a ferrari, 3 HDs, 3 Bmws  and a big house ,,he is a real pain to deal with  , when dealing with him let him write u a ticket ,  half the time the guys  at the station pay point will lose it when they see his signature and number .

[OneMoreFarang]

15 minutes ago, nigelforbes said:

If you've been stopped 100 times you must be a right dodgy geezer. And if you can't learn what side of the road to drive on, why should we believe that you have the skill to decide who controls all the drug trade her, sheesh guy!!!  ????

100 times in 25 years. I leave the math to you.

And it seems you don't know the motorcycle traffic rules. Motorcycles must ride on the left lane if there are 2 or 3 lanes in the same direction. But often there are cars parked on the left lane. So it is not a good idea to ride on that lane.

Now tell us about your extensive experience in Thailand - or maybe better not. 

[kwilco]

12 hours ago, talahtnut said:

If you look like you haven't two baht to rub together

they probably won't bother you.

Just run you down to immigration as someone with insufficient means to be in the country

[kwilco]

10 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

. I leave the math to you

Why? Can't you do it???

[kwilco]

48 minutes ago, connda said:

Let my wife handle it.

Depends who your wife is.....so many expats are married to Issan farm girls who left school at 14 and have very little knowledge for thinking outside the box....they just accept it " the way it is".

[JimboJ]

The police tried to shake me down a few years ago with a taxi driver claiming criminal damage to her car - total 4,000 baht.  First appeared a nasty midget who I ignored. Then two large police in a shiny pickup to take me to the station.  Where the uniformed police seemed more embarrassed than anything, but there was a scumbag in plain cloths who kept telling me it would be better to pay.  The tourist police kept out of the way.

I remained calm and polite and after a few hours everyone got bored and let me go.

I now carry the number of a lawyer with me.

With hindsight, I wish I had refused to go to the station to see what would have happened.

All this was at the beginning of the covid, so I didn't follow it up.

Probably a routine scam, which would work on anyone on their way to the airport. 

[Liverpool Lou]

15 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

15 hours ago, soi3eddie said:

You'll be lucky to get a British consular bod out from behind their bullet proof glass let alone assist you.

One would be lucky to get hold of anyone at all.....   and then have them assist you at 1am in the morning

There is a 24 hour manned, emergency number, certainly at the British Embassy.

[Liverpool Lou]

11 hours ago, smedly said:

The fact they feel the need to put this out there IMO is admission and evidence they know they have a serious problem

Peter Roche at the Phuket Go put this out, not the police, so it is not an admission that they have problems!

[nigelforbes]

32 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

100 times in 25 years. I leave the math to you.

And it seems you don't know the motorcycle traffic rules. Motorcycles must ride on the left lane if there are 2 or 3 lanes in the same direction. But often there are cars parked on the left lane. So it is not a good idea to ride on that lane.

Now tell us about your extensive experience in Thailand - or maybe better not. 

I came here from Hong Kong, after handover in 1997, plus, I've never ridden a bike here, not even as a passenger.   But I have gone through three new cars so I have lots of driving experience here. If any more questions, feel free to ask.

[Bangel72]

Many people will remember the cigarettes butt hustle particularly when they had no bins on sukhumvit, after a lot of complaints they made it legitimate with the following and introduced very visible warning signs and bins, that seems fair enough to me. You could sit outside bully bar with a few beers for a couple of hours and watch 5 or 6 groups going into the little booth, because it was clear there was very few arguments, almost jovial in the approach and the tourist had a story.

 

“A person caught littering can be apprehended and ordered to pay a fine not exceeding 2,000 baht. The amount is up to the discretion of the inspector. After paying the fine at a BMA booth − which should be located in every Bangkok district − the inspector must issue a receipt.

“If the offender refuses to pay the fine, we can’t arrest them. "

 

This is what is needed for vapes, bike licences etc. Publish the on the spot fines and remove the extortion. 

 

I just noticed the "can't", I believe this was because the people in the booths were inspectors working for the government and not actual police, I guess they could call they police and they could arrest them but maybe not.

[Liverpool Lou]

8 hours ago, kwilco said:

10 hours ago, smedly said:

the most obvious point here is ............................."""IF""" you'd done something wrong!!!

 

in a lot of cases you haven't and that is the problem

thst's the point of the article - they can't directly say it though, can they?

When you write "they" it looks as though you think this OP is information issued by the police.  It isn't.

[scorecard]

20 hours ago, Woof999 said:

This article said that, if you'd done something wrong and were offered an on the spot fine, it would likely be a lot less hassle and cost than going to court.

 

Sounds like decent advice to me.

Seems that bribery and corruption pretty much always a possibility.

 

Do keep in mind that for some offences the law allows the BIB a range of fines for them to levy on you (wild example 200 to 1,000Baht, etc). 

[Liverpool Lou]

6 hours ago, mikebell said:

The article went wrong at the 2nd sentence.  How many tourists in Pattaya have have been protected against taxi drivers not using meters in the last TEN YEARS?

The article was written by some bloke in Phuket so, yes, you're right, what does he know!

[richard_smith237]

45 minutes ago, n00dle said:

16 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

So.. How to avoid an attempted shakedown ? - The best defence is to have the number of a police friend, preferably a senior one...  

personally despite having such friends, I would never waste their time for a taxi stop. Things would need to very serious before i would play that card, chicken little.

The friends i have would likely laugh at me as they know I am well capable of navigating a simple police stop.

Depends.... my mate jokes that I never use him and deal with issues myself... most can be. Sometimes they can’t.

 

I was actually on my way to meet my one friend (close friend of 20 years who’s also in the Police).

It was 7pm... Checkpoint, saw a westerner in the taxi, stopped the taxi, asked for my passport and told me to get out...  No !!! - they were just going to waste a load of my time... I called my mate who spoke with them, took a minute, they waved me on. 

 

On another occasions I was actually talking with my mate (on the phone handsfree) while driving... 

... Police checkpoint up ahead... “hold on, your mates are pulling me over”.....    "let me speak with them”.... “No... you’ll probably tell them to do a rectal search !!!”..... “I’ll call you back !!”....   dealt with the issue easily. 

 

So.. it depends on the situation. 

[Liverpool Lou]

4 hours ago, brianthainess said:

Brilliant idea, "Officer would you mind waiting 2 days until Monday morning, when my Embassy opens so I can call them? you see they don't work weekends,

Most embassies have a 24-hour emergency number, the British one sure does.

[wadman]

7 minutes ago, Bangel72 said:

This is what is needed for vapes, bike licences etc. Publish the on the spot fines and remove the extortion. 

 

The issue with vapes is that so many Thais use them openly. And they are sold openly. Police sees them and does absolutely nothing, if they are Thai.  But for a foreigner it's a hefty fine. Implementation of a law in such a way doesn't deserve any respect or credibility. 

 

What next? Fine people for jaywalking? 10k for foreigners, Thais go free? 

[richard_smith237]

21 minutes ago, Liverpool Lou said:

There is a 24 hour manned, emergency number, certainly at the British Embassy.

And will they even be bothered if you call them at 1 or 2 am while half cut and tell them you are being extorted by the Police at a check-point in Lad-Prao ?????

 

 

Its fine saying... they have a 24 hr manned emergency number.... but do they really consider police extortion an emergency, or something that we can just deal with ourselves ??? 

 

I may be incorrect of course, but my guess is that we’d be told that they are not authorised to deal with such issues or some such response - I’d obviously like to be corrected with first hand information from someone who’s been helped in similar circumstances. 

[Liverpool Lou]

3 hours ago, firemans35 said:

Tried that for a friend once.Embassy  just wanted to give me a list of Attorneys to call the next day. The Embassy is useless

They're only "useless" if you have no idea what their job is.  They are civil servants, not lawyers, they're not qualified to give legal advice but they can tell you the best thing to do.

[richard_smith237]

1 hour ago, n00dle said:

1 hour ago, connda said:

Let my wife handle it.

indeed, it is always better to depend on others to navigate life for you.

No... thats not what he wrote, thats just your interpretation. 

 

Another interpretation is... Allow those better placed to resolve an issue to do so. 

 

Sometimes there is a language barrier with the Wife can circumnavigate to your advantage. 

At other times the perceived social status of the wife may impact proceedings, or the wife may be to timid and not offer any help, or the wife may shout and force things sideways etc...

 

each situation is different, its not always better to let the Wife handle it, but there are also times when the Wife can do a better job of handing a situation - It's up to us to be clever enough to know when. 

[Bangel72]

I was thinking a standard 200 to 500 baht and not a bumped up tourist fine. 

 

That's likely way off but the publishing of fines and the receipt remove the opportunity for them pocketing the money, once that's done why would they even waste their time stopping people unless its a 3rd party group as it was with littering who likely get commission?

 

The amount and the deterrent factor would have to be sorted but from what I can see the idea of publishing clearly worked with the cigarettes scam.

 

[Liverpool Lou]

3 hours ago, Neeranam said:

the Tourist police are the joke of the RTP. They have little power and are resentful that they have to take on farang volunteers

"Tourist police are the joke of the RTP. They have little power..."

That is nonsense, the Tourist Police Bureau is a section of the RTP and those officers are all police officers, they have exactly the same powers as the other police units.  You may be referring to Police Volunteers but they are not Tourist Police, they are civilian volunteers working with the Tourist Police.

[Liverpool Lou]

2 hours ago, Neeranam said:

Paying an 'on the spot fine' is illegal, of course. It's similar to foreigners paying Immigration officers 20k baht bribe to bypass immigration requirements.

I don't think that any foreigners pay IOs, Thai agents do that.

[OneMoreFarang]

28 minutes ago, nigelforbes said:

I've never ridden a bike here, not even as a passenger. 

Then why do you think you are qualified to reply to a post which was about riding a bike in Thailand?

You obviously have no idea about that. And what do smart people do if they realize that they don't know anything about what is talked about? Option 1: They listen. Option 2: They shut up. 

That's what smart people do.