Police Lieutenant Aniwat from Pattaya Police Station was called to Soi 15 off the Tappraya Road in Jomtien at 6.30 on Saturday Morning after a foreign house owner had reported the apprehension of a suspected house thief. Arriving at the scene, Khun Samlan aged 19 was taken into custody. Items in his possession included a safe box, laptop, DVD Player, Playstation 2, VCD Player, Electric Screwdriver and a money box containing coins.

The alleged theft had taken place at a house belonging to a Swiss man who was currently out of town. He had asked his German neighbor to take care of his house while he was gone. Early on Saturday Morning, Mr. Charlie Grazer heard a commotion inside the Swiss Man’s house and went to investigate. He spotted two men leaving the house with stolen items. He was able to apprehend one of them and summoned assistance from other residents who called the Police.

Khun Samlan confessed to committing the theft and is also believed to have been involved in many other house robberies here in Pattaya and is currently being held pending further investigations. The Swiss house owner, Mr. Rene aged 56 has been informed and is on his way back to Pattaya.

http://www.pattayacitynews.net/news_14_07_50_3.htm

Police Lieutenant Aniwat from Pattaya Police Station was called to Soi 15 off the Tappraya Road in Jomtien at 6.30 on Saturday Morning after a foreign house owner had reported the apprehension of a suspected house thief. Arriving at the scene, Khun Samlan aged 19 was taken into custody. Items in his possession included a safe box, laptop, DVD Player, Playstation 2, VCD Player, Electric Screwdriver and a money box containing coins.

The alleged theft had taken place at a house belonging to a Swiss man who was currently out of town. He had asked his German neighbor to take care of his house while he was gone. Early on Saturday Morning, Mr. Charlie Grazer heard a commotion inside the Swiss Man’s house and went to investigate. He spotted two men leaving the house with stolen items. He was able to apprehend one of them and summoned assistance from other residents who called the Police.

Khun Samlan confessed to committing the theft and is also believed to have been involved in many other house robberies here in Pattaya and is currently being held pending further investigations. The Swiss house owner, Mr. Rene aged 56 has been informed and is on his way back to Pattaya.

http://www.pattayacitynews.net/news_14_07_50_3.htm

Reading this crime news day after day one can’t help to jump to the conclusion that Pattaya is a fairly dangerous place to stay and is living up to its ugly reputation abroad. I must say I also had an astonishing experience spotting a burglar in my apartment when I came back unexpectedly early. (The guy was working in an office downstairs; he knew when I was out.) But living in Pattaya for some years I actually never really felt unsafe.

And I’m still not convinced that Pattaya’s crime rate is higher than the rate in other comparable places – if there are any. I wonder whether there are any reasonably reliable crime statistics officially or privately compiled to bolster my arguments that Pattaya is not such a bad place to stay.

I would be grateful for any reference.

Statistics can be produced to support or denigrate any argument - depends on the filters used and the interpretations put on the results.

Pattaya has a lot of crime, but then so do many third-world countries with high unemployment.

Where it stands internationally depends on the crimes you research and the parameters you then use for interpretation. And also on the accuracy of the reported crimes in the first place.

Statistics can be produced to support or denigrate any argument - depends on the filters used and the interpretations put on the results.

Pattaya has a lot of crime, but then so do many third-world countries with high unemployment.

Where it stands internationally depends on the crimes you research and the parameters you then use for interpretation. And also on the accuracy of the reported crimes in the first place.

I won't dispute that data collection and its interpretation can be linked to concern, but I think it's a bit over-the-top to assume that statistics in general are deliberately distorted. You are saying Pattaya has a lot of crime but what is a lot? A lot can be judged in different ways by different people. And where did you get this information from? And furthermore, where did you get the information from that the crime rate in other Third-World countries is high too? I guess either from your own direct or indirect experience, from the news or from statistics. And I’m still convinced that collected data, even if they (necessarily) edited are the most reliable resources of social knowledge.

But I fully agree with you that a thoughtless use of statistics can be misleading. We all know for example that Farang more often get punished for violations of traffic regulations than Thai because they are used to pull their car or motorcycle over when a policeman ask them to stop. Thai very often don’t care much and drive away with high speed. As a consequence the traffic regulation violation rate concerning Farang must be relatively high.