Bangkok - Unpleasant Experience

[NovaBlue05]

This is a police state run by the one of the most corrupt police forces in the world

Any luck in finding out "how to escape"?

The term " police state" is tossed around a bit indescriminately by some.

[NovaBlue05]

The term " police state" is tossed around a bit indescriminately by some.

Thailand has one of the largest Police Forces in the World, with around a quarter of a million.

Per capita, Thailand has possibly the largest Police Force in the World, with a Policeman for as few as every 240 citizens.

Could Thailand then be described as a 'Police State'?

I guess it depends on on how you view it.. When I hear the term, I dont think of numbers but whether the force is used to implement the will of an authoritaria and\or repressive govt. I dont see Thailand as either.

[pampal]

The same thing happened to me while riding my bicycle around Sanam Luang,

HM the King was passing by and I was riding my bicycle, but I wasn't on the street, I was in the oval concrete track that winds around the park. At first I was chased by a police man blowing his whistle and as I stopped, two policemen ran up to me and moved me into the middle of the park(the grassy section) and searched my backpack. But they were nice about it and even gave me some Nam Pao

[onethailand]

Almost surely a royal cavalcade - the police don't wave cars over for any other caravan except when the caravan is immediately behind you. In such situations you are supposed to remain exactly where you were - if in the car, stay in the car. If outside, don't move.

That being said, the attitude of the policeman was over the top but I guess you can imagine after reading some of the other posts, not entirely unexpected given the pressure of the situation.

[sriracha john]

Can the OP inform us of who the procession was for?

Because depending on the answer, posts like #24, among others, might easily be construed as having gone way too far.

Edited December 22, 2007 by sriracha john

[cm-happy]

If it makes you feel better this is my experience.

Several years ago the Prince was in town for uni graduation ceremonies.

Just as I came out of shopping mall walking along the side walk to return home. Policeman motioned for me to stop. His auto cavalcade was passing bye including His cream colored Rolls-Royce. I was astonished at all the police and security activity in the area and dropped a package on the sidewalk.

Bent over to pick up the package, and basically showed my clothed backside(butt) to the cavalcade.

Police laughed, as did the drivers of the autos in the cavalcade.

After they had passed, just went about my business.

[Tony Clifton]

Never f*?% around when they`re blocking roads for a motorcade.

My wife told me a Thai was once shot after going through anyway on his motorcycle.

[blizzard]

peeple in usa do not get tasered daily, and often for no reason.

if this does happen the usual lawsuit will follow.

[Bagwan]

During my first month in LOS, I, and other road users, were told to pull over and about 5 minutes later along came a police car being driven at high speed. Then another. Then another. All together there were 7 police cars about 250 yards apart and then came a little Volkswagen followed by two more police cars. When the show was over I wound down the window and asked out of genuine interest who the VIP was. When I was told I offered that I had thought that it was Buddha himself at least. The cop, to his credit, laughed. It should go without saying that I wouldn't make such an observation now.

Betty Windsor used to drive herself around the UK in a posh Land Rover with a Royal Protection Squad policeman sitting alongside until the old dear presumably got a bit past it. Not same same, eh? At least one member of the UK Royal Family had been prosecuted and fined for speeding. OK, OK, I know. TIT.

[Dakhar]

peeple in usa do not get tasered daily, and often for no reason.

if this does happen the usual lawsuit will follow.

He is right, they usually opt for things like, night sticks, fists and boots.... sometimes black jacks, pepper spray...

Just ask the black retired teacher down in New Orleans about his experience, after asking a cop what time it was.

Pratically beat him to death.... Why? I guess he had bad breath.

Meaning no disrespect, but for the many times you see people on the sides of the road taking care of business like animals... I am surprised by the cops reaction. TIT

[blizzard]

there r exceptions . and it usually involves dums dums. black peeple.

but it is not daily occurence sir.

[ClaytonSeymour]

there r exceptions . and it usually involves dums dums. black peeple.

but it is not daily occurence sir.

Who/what are dums dums?

[chicowoodduck]

I suppose your reaction to this does depend where you are coming from. Coming from the US, I am used to power tripping porkers.

Maybe it's just me, but no matter what part of the world I've parked my butt in, I've NEVER <deleted>*k around with anyone in a police uniform.

[jackr]

Don't worry at some of the obvious responses, op; you're always going to get this while the 'rose-tinted-glasses' brigade are about.

This cop was obviously under stress at this time but acted like a petulant kid and spat the dummy. If you had a bag or were carrying something, then yeah, but he could have gone about it without busting a blood vessel.

So you knew the reason why the car was stopped but you got out to 'stretch my legs and get some air' (how long had you been in the car?) The act of getting out of the car and looking down the road could be viewed that you were acting in a very suspicious manner. How did the police officer that you got out of the car innocently? The officer ought to be commended on his actions and you ought to be thankful that you were not detained and questioned further.

Oh dear

If this happened in the UK and there were witnesses - the Police Complaints Commisssion would act on this.

Of course they would have acted on it by rolling about on the floor laughing!

In London, a man – Brazilian I believe – was shot because police thought he was acting suspiciously. Police was cleared. Story here.

Bulmercke is still alive.

--

Maestro

What a ridiculous comparison. This was at the time of the London bombings btw, and some overdressed, suspicious-looking guy with a rucksack was running from the cops after being asked to stop. Slightly different from some power-crazy uniform verbally attacking a driver over some cavalcade now isn't it!

If it makes you feel better this is my experience.

Several years ago the Prince was in town for uni graduation ceremonies.

Just as I came out of shopping mall walking along the side walk to return home. Policeman motioned for me to stop. His auto cavalcade was passing bye including His cream colored Rolls-Royce. I was astonished at all the police and security activity in the area and dropped a package on the sidewalk.

Bent over to pick up the package, and basically showed my clothed backside(butt) to the cavalcade.

Police laughed, as did the drivers of the autos in the cavalcade.

After they had passed, just went about my business.

Perfect :D

[Dakhar]

Folks wants some chilling viewing:

(at least she wasn't stomped on)

I have add a correction in the various methods used for police brutality, sometimes they just run you over.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLTos7N4gSM&NR=1

just a benign tasering, because the guy like to read books.... apparently a lot

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfFfUxBDMDY...feature=related

Michael Moore reveals who the "dums dums" are.

[kat]

there r exceptions . and it usually involves dums dums. black peeple.

but it is not daily occurence sir.

Aren't you special? Your messages look like they were written by a chimpanzee, and yet you call black people like Amadou Diallo dum dums because they were shot or brutalized by police officers. Your thinking is not much better either.

[Dakhar]

Luckily, in the US, we have dilegent police officers keeping high crime criminals off of the streets.

Criminals such as skaters!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfFfUxBDMDY...feature=related

[kat]

Yeah, you're right about that, Dakhar. But in Thailand, there were more than 2,000 people murdered extra-judicially without a trial, and about 16 disappearances of political activists in the same amount of time.

[BalthazarBeefheart]

I witnessed a similar situation on Sukhumvit by Robinsons, police were everywhere having closed the road to traffic and removed everyone from the pedestrian bridges. It was obvious that something important was going on by the number of high-ranking police in attendance.

A farang, dressed for the office, took it upon himself to cross the road - I thought what an <deleted> <deleted>. A policeman went absolutely beserk screaming at him. A minute or so later a cavalcade roared by - it was the King having just been released from hospital.

The police are merely trying to maintain security for their VIPS we should respect that and use our noddles a little bit more.

Cheers BB

[brahmburgers]

I agree with the OP that he got an unfair rebuke. Thai cops take their traffic-stopping roles too seriously. I've seen it where cops are stationed every 100 meters for 65 Km of highway - all shivering on a cold night. Their gig may have lasted 3 hours altogether, just so some VIP and twenty car cavalcade could go zooming by at 95 mph.

Meanwhile, back in bangkok, cops are sometimes assigned to look the other way when gangs of hired thugs go to demolish a square block of vendors' outlets. Something's not quite right when cops avoid dealing with serious law-breakers, and instead rebuke innocents. And yes, the social status you emit with your car and your attire and your gold-bedecked lady - speak volumes as regards how you're treated here in LOSmiles.

[jackspratt]

What a ridiculous comparison. This was at the time of the London bombings btw, and some overdressed, suspicious-looking guy with a rucksack was running from the cops after being asked to stop. Slightly different from some power-crazy uniform verbally attacking a driver over some cavalcade now isn't it!

What a ridiculous statement. de Menezes was not overdressed, was not carrying a rucksack, did not run from the cops, and was never asked to stop before they put 5 bullets in his head.

[nidge]

I would like to make it clear before i write the rest of this post that i despise all Thai police and have no respect for them whatsoever.

However... You were on the expressway. It is designed for cars and not for tourists on a daily stroll. Why were you so stupid as to get out of your car?

The officer shouted at you. You got in your car. Had he not shouted at you and asked you nicely you would most likely started asking stupid questions instead of getting in your car.

I worked for 6 years as a discipline officer in the UK Prison Service. I was a complete bast_rd most of the time. (i'm not like that now, i promise). When i needed to get someone to do something immediately the quickest was to do it was to shout. Fear produces the quickest results. I never had a bad result. I spent a lot of time working with murderers and terrorists. They all look like normal people. That means YOU look like a terrorist. If he had orders to stop the traffic and keep everyone out of the way do you think his best plan of action should have been? Casually walk over and whisper in your ear to get back into the car?

[farang prince]

Last night a friend of my wife and myself gave us a lift home from a concert. On the expessway a police officer waved us over to the side before a toll booth to let a cavalcade pass. When we came to a stop I got out the vehicle to stretch my legs and get some air - but didn't move more than a couple of metres from the car. We were parked up near the barrier of the elevated expressway we were on and I was looking down onto the road and the community we were situated over when all of a sudden my attention is diverted to a police captain about fifty metres away who was storming across the expressway toward me and shouting and screaming at me to get back into my vehicle with wild arm gestures. One of his underlings was by his side.

I was so shocked that I didn't immediatedly respond to his command and wasn't sure what was going on. As he got closer he was yelling at me at the top of his voice and his actions were certainly hostile and aggressive.

So you knew the reason why the car was stopped but you got out to 'stretch my legs and get some air' (how long had you been in the car?) The act of getting out of the car and looking down the road could be viewed that you were acting in a very suspicious manner. How did the police officer that you got out of the car innocently? The officer ought to be commended on his actions and you ought to be thankful that you were not detained and questioned further.

If this happened in the UK and there were witnesses - the Police Complaints Commisssion would act on this.

Of course they would have acted on it by rolling about on the floor laughing!

Hey - I wasn't paying any attention to the road (elevated expressway) I was on. I was simply looking down over the barrier at what was below it . It was eerily quiet and that was it.

And hey guess what? If my wife and friend hadn't been with me I would have probably told this individual to go fxxx himself whatever the consequences.

Yes - principles can be costly sometimes - but I'm stilled pxxxed about this some twenty hours later - hence the OP.

Lucky you weren't in Guatemala, where they have 16-year-olds armed with M-16s manning the roadblocks. If you had gotten out of your car there, you would have been hamburger. Hopefully you have learned an important message when are you living or travelling out of your home country...cops and soldiers in foreign countries don't always play by the same rules. And if you cop an attitude, they might just put on your tombstone ... "He died pissed."

[dr_Pat_Pong]

Last night a friend of my wife and myself gave us a lift home from a concert. On the expessway a police officer waved us over to the side before a toll booth to let a cavalcade pass. When we came to a stop I got out the vehicle to stretch my legs and get some air - but didn't move more than a couple of metres from the car. We were parked up near the barrier of the elevated expressway we were on and I was looking down onto the road and the community we were situated over when all of a sudden my attention is diverted to a police captain about fifty metres away who was storming across the expressway toward me and shouting and screaming at me to get back into my vehicle with wild arm gestures. One of his underlings was by his side.

I was so shocked that I didn't immediatedly respond to his command and wasn't sure what was going on. As he got closer he was yelling at me at the top of his voice and his actions were certainly hostile and aggressive.

And why? For the crime of having chosen to get out of the vehicle I was travelling in at that particular moment.

When I realised what was going on I got back into the car and sat there for about two or three minutes with three officers surrounding it while the cavalcade passed.

I wonder if I would have been treated differently if I looked Sino-Thai and had stepped out from a Benz? I suspect so!

The pig-headed arrogance of this bully in tight brown trousers astounded me and further causes me to be disillusioned and disappointed about this nasty country that Thailand is fast becoming.

I guess this is how Burmese - Cambodian - Loatians - get treated in this country for minor violations of the law and now it appears that farangs are no different.

It sounds like he was just doing his job by trying to ensure security for what were probably some very important people - can't really blame him too much for that, even if you didn't appreciate his style. As for whether or not his manner would have been different had you been someone else, we'll never know but I wouldn't use the incident as evidence of anti-farang sentiment!

Absoluetely. The OP ( getting out on or near the expressway ) wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed.

[nidge]

Hopefully you have learned an important message when are you living or travelling out of your home country...

You can tell when someone learns from this sort of experience. They understand they made a mistake. If they use the experience to blame someone else for their stupidity then they have learned nothing.

[bulmercke]

What's this? Get At Bulmercke day?

Edited December 23, 2007 by bulmercke

[farang prince]

What's this? Get At Bulmercke day?

No. This is get at reality day. You screwed up. Do you think being a farang is going to save your ass in the future? If so, I have a new tombstone for you..."He died dumb."

[tijnebijn]

What's this? Get At Bulmercke day?

No some are just saying you were overreacting too much , and you did !

nothing personal .

[bulmercke]

I would like to make it clear before i write the rest of this post that i despise all Thai police and have no respect for them whatsoever.

However... You were on the expressway. It is designed for cars and not for tourists on a daily stroll. Why were you so stupid as to get out of your car?

The officer shouted at you. You got in your car. Had he not shouted at you and asked you nicely you would most likely started asking stupid questions instead of getting in your car.

I worked for 6 years as a discipline officer in the UK Prison Service. I was a complete bast_rd most of the time. (i'm not like that now, i promise). When i needed to get someone to do something immediately the quickest was to do it was to shout. Fear produces the quickest results. I never had a bad result. I spent a lot of time working with murderers and terrorists. They all look like normal people. That means YOU look like a terrorist. If he had orders to stop the traffic and keep everyone out of the way do you think his best plan of action should have been? Casually walk over and whisper in your ear to get back into the car?

You were probably that farang (with the suspect demeanour) I was eying suspiciously in my local soi 4 watering hole last week.

[MekongCombat]

To the OP, You don't have a clue to what was going on nor what happened to you, Its not your fault could be argued but you live here in Thailand so you should know the rules of the road. I'm not writing this to criticize you but to set the story straight, and as a warning to the tourist who will read this in the future on how to behave under such circumstance.

What happened is simple, the streets were cleared so the Royal Family could move, It was all about security, not about barking, not about personality, and not any kind of misunderstanding, but about protecting the Royal Family.

While I was not there at you're location so cannot mention details of your exact situation here are some general ideas on the subject. If you pull up and see streets blocked off, lots of police around, or just traffic blocked and Rama 4 or Sukumvit cleared of traffic on Friday night, or show up at what would normally be a busy time and the sky train is shut down for no apparent reason, Beware.

The police are not joking when it involves the Royal Family, in fact they are very aggressive and just because someone is completely ignorant of Thai society or in general how things work here will not prevent someone from getting severely injured just for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Taking pictures is also forbidden, not because anyone cares about pictures but because cameras can easily be mistaken as guns, you reach in a purse and pull out a camera to close to any VIP for the quick snapshot and end up in handcuffs or shot, its happened. The problem when the OP got out of the car was they were a security breach, posed a danger, its rather simple from that perspective. Its of no matter if they did not know they were a security breach, they were.

Under the current circumstance we will have more and more real security versus the sleeping guards many of us know so well. Be careful, Thailand is not the safest place in the world no matter how beautiful it is or how many good hearted people live here. It is the misunderstandings that turn into the most dangerous situations, beware of your surroundings, don't drink to much, and be polite no matter how rude anyone else is and you will go a long ways in the Kingdom of Thailand.