A Night in the Thai Police Station

[ChrisKC]

44 minutes ago, MalcolmB said:

I haven’t seen any. I don’t read every post.

That's irrelevant, ignorance is no defence. Everybody else in this topic has seen it and that is good enough for me. And yes, you have been "decorated" including all the sad emojis you have deserved that you whinged about a few days ago. This might be a good time to adjust your name with an added "S". 

[MalcolmB]

That was just the last day I won it, pretty sure there have another 20 or 30 times.

[richard_smith237]

Just now, MalcolmB said:

That was just the last day I won it, pretty sure there have another 20 or 30 times.

 

Not that anyone cares - but, no you haven't !!! - just more delusion from you.

 

 

 

 

[MalcolmB]

5 minutes ago, ChrisKC said:

And yes, you have been "decorated" including all the sad emojis you have deserved that you whinged about a few days ago.

You have got me mixed up with someone else.

i don’t even look at emojis, never used them, don’t notice them, had them removed off my notifications.

 

It is ok, I find it hard to remember who is who, and said what also, but I can assure you I have never complained about those childish sticker things. It is pre teen girl stuff.

[MalcolmB]

3 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

Not that anyone cares - but, no you haven't !!! - just more delusion from you.

 

 

 

 

i don’t really understand how all that works to be honest.

 

 

[MalcolmB]

49 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

Its easy to redact someones name - just take as screen print and draw a black box over it.

 

Pretty bad form Snitchy Ritchy.

i can tell by the initial and color who those two are. 
I won’t hold it against them, and still help them out with their enquiries when I can.

[richard_smith237]

11 minutes ago, MalcolmB said:

i don’t even look at emojis, never used them, don’t notice them, had them removed off my notifications.

 

Further lies from you !!...   

 

You pee'd your pants with excitement when you saw three dislikes to one of my comments !! 

 

On 4/23/2025 at 7:33 AM, MalcolmB said:

Three people on this thread alone have shared their negative views of you, how about pulling your head in a bit? Most loathed member on AN

[ChrisKC]

15 minutes ago, MalcolmB said:

You have got me mixed up with someone else.

i don’t even look at emojis, never used them, don’t notice them, had them removed off my notifications.

 

It is ok, I find it hard to remember who is who, and said what also, but I can assure you I have never complained about those childish sticker things. It is pre teen girl stuff.

You are right, I owe you one. Harris Fan was the whinger about sad emojis but was for him very much deserving. It wasn't you, sorry! 

[MalcolmB]

2 minutes ago, ChrisKC said:

You are right, I owe you one. Harris Fan was the whinger about sad emojis but was for him very much deserving. It wasn't you, sorry! 

That’s ok mate, we all make mistakes.

[Fat is a type of crazy]

1 hour ago, MalcolmB said:

it doesn’t surprise me that you wouldn’t know about it.

i am not one to blow my own Trumpet but since you ask.

I am a highly decorated member of this forum.

 

 

 

They pick someone special on April Fools

[richard_smith237]

3 minutes ago, MalcolmB said:

Pretty bad form Snitchy Ritchy.

i can tell by the initial and color who those two are. 
I won’t hold it against them, and still help them out with their enquiries when I can.

 

stupid - you have no idea...  just like there are plenty of posters who's 'emoticon' is just a simple M with the same colour !

 

 

[MalcolmB]

1 minute ago, Fat is a type of crazy said:

They pick someone special on April Fools

Now where have I seen that blue F before?

 

 

[Fat is a type of crazy]

Just now, MalcolmB said:

Now where have I seen that blue F before?

 

 

I posted a couple of times I think when you were GOAT. 

[MalcolmB]

7 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

stupid - you have no idea...  just like there are plenty of posters who's 'emoticon' is just a simple M with the same colour !

 

 

Can you name them?

Nah.

Whoops

[richard_smith237]

15 minutes ago, MalcolmB said:

18 minutes ago, Fat is a type of crazy said:

They pick someone special on April Fools

Now where have I seen that blue F before?

 

Awww cockroach....  Cute...  but no cigar !!!

... Your observational skills are sorely missing...  'fat is a type of crazy's' emoticon or whatever its called has a badge... 

 

[richard_smith237]

17 minutes ago, MalcolmB said:

Can you name them?

Nah.

Whoops

 

Au contraire cockroach.. 

Well over 70 pages of posters with the Emoticon M...  

Most of them probably lurkers...   but there are scores of forum members with the same colour emoticon initial.

 

You only jumped to the conclusions you do because you are stupid and don't know what you don't know.

 

 

 

 

[josephbloggs]

Well this thread degenerated in to off-topic pathetic childish bickering quite quickly. Grow up.

[FruitPudding]

I had quite a pleasant experience with the Thai police when I had dealings with them.

 

Your Mileage May Vary.

[Cameroni]

8 minutes ago, FruitPudding said:

I had quite a pleasant experience with the Thai police when I had dealings with them.

 

Your Mileage May Vary.

 

Me too also only pleasant experiences with police.

 

Nothing sexual obviously.

[Presnock]

On 4/23/2025 at 5:01 PM, richard_smith237 said:

 

Fair enough...    had he blown into the breathalyser a couple of hours later then.

 

The point I wanted to address is how close to being over the 'limit' the Op was.... 

 

.... some want to see him 'hung-drawn and quartered'... I think going slightly over like this, while absolutely wrong, might also be considered a stupid mistake... Where as being significantly over the limit and knowingly driving while inebriated is something that I'd 'morally' reprehensible.

 

 

 

 

Yeah but just look at all those statistics about deaths on the highways here!  Best option is either have a dirver or drive without drinking or smoking drugs.  I worked in an office where employees were sent away to a different job if every caught  DUI or were not hired into my job.  Training and experience as I saw the effects on friends of mine.

[crazykopite]

The police officer must Bea follower of the government minister who insists on calling us Dirty Farangs ! 

[Grumpy one]

On 4/22/2025 at 12:25 AM, Hellfire said:

We've all read and seen films about Thai prisons. We all know it's not the most pleasant place to spend your time. And yet, nothing compares to personal experience—what you go through yourself...

From the very start, I'll admit that I fully recognize my guilt for the violations I committed. First, I drank about 70-80 grams of Thai 35% whiskey and got behind the wheel. Second, I drove without having either Thai or international driver's licenses. Did I deserve the punishment I received? According to many grumpy, old men from this forum—yes, I deserved to be quartered. From my point of view, however, I was treated unfairly and even in a dirty way.

That day, my Thai wife was with me. We went for a short drive around the city, and during it, I had a little whiskey. A police patrol stopped us when we were about 200 meters from our condo. It was around 11 PM. I should mention that I felt 100% sober at that moment, and I'm sure I looked that way too. I didn't refuse to blow into the breathalyzer. The result was 27 "milligrams percent"… As the young officer explained, it was a full 7 points above the legal limit. About 15 minutes later, a young Thai man breathed into the same device, and his result was 120 "milligrams percent". He looked, by the way, quite respectable.

They kept us there for about an hour and a half, right where we were stopped. All this time, through my wife, the police explained that they would process us at the station, we'd pay a 20,000 baht bail, and most likely, we'd be in court the next day. At the station, they kept us for at least another hour (together with the 120%-Thai). There's no need to explain the discomfort of being in a police station: various rude, ignorant men of different ages take pleasure in making you feel small, desperately exaggerating their importance. If there's anywhere that the meaninglessness of human nature fully reveals itself—it's during close interaction with police officers (or "dogs," as they're commonly called in Russia).

Just when it seemed that the cheap spectacle was about to end, a higher-ranking officer (which means the most immoral of them all) declared that I could escape the country, and the 20,000 baht bail wasn’t a guarantee for such a horrible criminal as me. The conclusion—I'd spend the night in jail.

I didn't argue, handed my personal belongings to my wife, and, together with the 120%-Thai, walked into the police cell.

There were about 15 other Thai prisoners already in the cell (although among them were also Burmese and some other Asians). The surprising thing was that they were all fast asleep. Another surprising part was that they were sleeping on the completely bare stone floor. It finally hit me where I was. The room smelled strongly from the toilet located within the cell. The floor, on which the prisoners were sleeping, was not just stone, but also quite dirty. I sat in a corner and immediately realized I wouldn’t be able to sleep here. My Thai companion also sat in a corner, and initially, it seemed like he, too, wouldn't sleep (by the way, he was sent to jail only because he didn’t have the money for bail). However, I was wrong. Half an hour later, he dozed off while sitting, and an hour later, he comfortably stretched out on the dirty floor and began snoring.

And here I was, alone in this terrifying room, surrounded by 15 sleeping Asians. Just a few hours ago, I had been expecting a very different end to my evening. I noticed a small window near the ceiling of the cell. Now, it became my main point of reference for the coming hours. I had to wait for dawn.

I won’t go into the details of my thought process. Naturally, it was a tough night for me—both physically and mentally. What I didn’t know was that at the same time the officer who sent me behind bars was interrogating my wife. He asked her about me, how I earned a living, whether I had broken the law before... When he saw my wife’s reluctance to turn me in, he started yelling at her, reminding her that I was a foreigner and that by defending me, she was betraying her country and her people. In the end, he promised her that I’d be deported. Such a nice guy, a true son of a land of smile.

Meanwhile, I kept changing positions: I sat when my back hurt, then stood, then walked. I did this all night. The thing that bothered me the most was the fear that they wouldn’t let me go in the morning and would keep me for another day or two. The fifteen Asians peacefully and soundly slept on the floor the whole time.

Finally, it started to get light. The birds began singing. My cellmates started to wake up. They treated me quite amicably, but without any excess.

I should mention that aside from the stone floor, another problem was drinking water. They gave me a small bottle when I entered, but only after my wife insisted. I stretched it out throughout the night. Surprisingly, my Thai neighbors didn’t seem too bothered by the lack of water—they drank very little. However, when they brought some kind of food (rice and something wrapped in paper), everyone sat down happily and ate with gusto. From this, I concluded that, after a night on the stone floor, everyone’s mood was surprisingly good.

Around noon, they loaded us into a van and took us to court. Dirty and unwashed. I was fined 10,000 baht.

Did my attitude towards Thailand change after all this? Definitely.

Be careful—you really don't want to end up in jail here, even for just one day. And don't forget, we're all guests here (in the worst sense of the word).

A simple solution to your long-winded rave is DONT Drink and DRIVE

[CM Dad]

Now that you have been released the first thing you should do, after having some sleep, is get a license.  The second is to confine your drinking to your home.

[Satcommlee]

Thankyou for sharing, hope it serves as a deterrent to others..

[MadAtMatrix]

On 4/22/2025 at 12:41 AM, Patong2021 said:

I don't  understand what your  concern or complaint is? Read to me like you were treated nicely and no differently than the other detainees.  If one removes all the fluff the  event can be summarized as follows;

- You were inebriated and stopped while driving.

- You were taken to a police station, processed and put in the drunk tank with other people.

- You were arraigned, adjudicated and  assessed a fine.

- No one assaulted you or extorted you.

 

All of this is remarkably mild compared to other countries. In many EU countries,some US states  and Canada, if it was a weekend, you may have stayed in detention until the next  working day. It having been Easter and if you were stopped on a Friday, that could have been 4 days in custody. Elsewhere your trial might not have been  for 6-12 months during which time you might have been subject to a mandatory driving suspension for  72 hours to 30 days. And if found guilty seen your license suspended for a period of time and a very  large increase in your insurance premium. In the USA, a conviction would be grounds for  deportation with some states requiring a mandatory jail sentence, e.g. Arizona @ 10 days. In Canada, it is a felony offence and so you would be then be barred from entering many countries, In  Norway, you get dinged for a fine that is proportional to your monthly salary. You got off lucky, especially since you did not harm anyone.

 

 

First off 27 mg of alcohol in 100 ml of blood, also written as 27 mg% is hardly “inebriated”. I have arrested drivers at 380 mg% who were chronic drunks and they could walk and talk like someone at 50 mg%. They could drive worth a damn though. 

 

BAC	Effects Experienced
.02-.04%	Lightheaded – Relaxation, sensation of warmth, “high,” minor impairment in judgment
.05-.07%	Buzzed – Relaxation, euphoria, lower inhibitions, minor impairment of reasoning and memory, exaggerated emotions (positive and negative)
.08-.10%	Legally impaired – Euphoria, fatigue, impairment in balance, speech, vision (particularly peripheral), reaction time, and hearing, judgment and self-control impaired
.11-.15%	Drunk – “High” is reduced, depressive effects (anxiety, depression, unease) more pronounced, gross motor impairment, judgment and perception severely impaired
.16-.19%	Very drunk – Strong state of depression, nausea, disorientation, dizziness, increased motor impairment, blurred vision, judgment further impaired
.20-.24%	Dazed and confused – Gross disorientation to time and place, increased nausea and vomiting, may need assistance to stand or walk, impervious to pain, blackout likely
.25-.30%	Stupor – All mental, physical, and sensory functions are severely impaired, accidents very likely, little comprehension, may pass out suddenly
.31% and up	Coma – Level of surgical amnesia, onset of coma, possibility of acute alcohol poisoning, death due to respiratory arrest likely in 50% of drinkers

(Source https://www.utoledo.edu/studentaffairs/counseling/selfhelp/substanceuse/bac.html)

 

Second, Canada does not have “felonies”. There are summary conviction offences, and indictable offences. 99.9% of impaired driving / driving with more than 80 mg% are prosecuted as summary conviction offences. (Source Canada offences https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criminal_law_of_Canada)

 

Third, you would NOT be held in jail for 24 hours let alone 72 hours, barring extenuating circumstances like being a flight risk, have warrants, have other outstanding charges that you have been released on an undertaking or recognizance to a judge which does not allow for a police officer to issue a Promise to Appear, or Appearance Notice after processing the offender. The onus of proof to hold someone in custody is on the prosecution (police) and not for the accused to prove why they should not be held in the first instance. 

 

How do I know this, I was a Canadian police officer for 18 years, trained as a designated operator of an approved instrument for conducting evidentiary breath testing or an approved instrument (listed here - https://lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/regulations/SI-85-201/section-2-20190128.html#wb-cont), trained as an operator of roadside screening devices, an instructor in Standardized Field Sobriety Testing, and a designated officer under the Criminal Code of Canada to conduct evaluations on drug impaired drivers - otherwise known as a DRE or Drug Recognition Expert. I have conducted in excess of 6000 roadside tests with the same device the RTP use at the roadside, and I was also a calibrator of these devices. They are the Alco-Sensor IV roadside screening device. They can be extremely unreliable if they are not maintained properly, which requires calibration with a standardized gas every 14 days, or 50 breath tests, as it is a fuel cell sensor, and does not have an alcohol wet bath that is a known concentration at a set temperature that is connected to a desktop evidentiary breath testing device. These devices are set up in police stations, or mobile vans where the tests are conducted. 

 

So, there are people who come on here, and talk like they are “experts” in something, and cite things that do not exist - such as “felonies” in Canada. It is commonly referred to as “talking out of your rectal orifice”. 

 

 

Examples of devices that are listed in Thailand as potentially used for breath testing of ethanol presence. 

https://admin.cstp.or.th/upload/user_document/6b806c808ca89c01500b33354604c505.pdf

 

 

[HighPriority]

I guess the op wasn’t in Canada s o most of your post doesn’t really amount to much does it…? 🤷🏼‍♂️

[richard_smith237]

22 minutes ago, HighPriority said:

I guess the op wasn’t in Canada s o most of your post doesn’t really amount to much does it…? 🤷🏼‍♂️

 

Of course it counts - he is a Policeman far more real world experience of dealing with drunk drivers than we have... even those cockroaches who regularly drive while well over the limit.

 

The perspective MadAtMatrix provides is with the 'readings' and the fact that the levels stated by the Op show minimal alcohol consumption in the first place.

 

[treetops]

3 hours ago, MadAtMatrix said:

How do I know this, I was a Canadian police officer for 18 years . . . . . <snip>

 

So in your time on the job and with your experience of multiple cases, would you let a guy walk because he was only a little bit over the legal limit?

[richard_smith237]

15 minutes ago, treetops said:

3 hours ago, MadAtMatrix said:

How do I know this, I was a Canadian police officer for 18 years . . . . . <snip>

 

So in your time on the job and with your experience of multiple cases, would you let a guy walk because he was only a little bit over the legal limit?

 

..thats somewhat of a poor 'Framing Effect' and a loaded question... 

 

 

 

 

 

[treetops]

Just now, richard_smith237 said:

..those are your words and assumptions, not Mad's... .. you've used very a very poor 'Framing Effect' and a loaded question, which is a rather weak argumentative technique and highlights very simplified mental processing...  

 

Don't overthink things, I'm not trying to argue with anyone and simplifying things (without distorting them) is quite suitable to get insight into a particular aspect of an issue.

 

Much has been made about the guys level of drunkenness but I'm pretty sure in the UK it wouldn't matter a jot if he failed the  evidentiary test (2 chances are allowed)  he'd be in the cells until sober (ie he could pass) or overnight if he was going to be in court in the morning.  I'm trying to find out what the situation would be elsewhere and it seems more than fair to ask a guy who should know.