Farang Polices At Highway Patrol

[Chopper]

You are familiar with the saying 'one bad apple...' no doubt.

Simon I understand your wish to take this offline but please report back with the adjudication. If true then he should be named and shamed and let us know the punishment received.

[TexasRanger]

What next, spec ops volunteers? I want to be a government volunteer. Where do I get one of those nice pink shirts?

[junkofdavid2]

All it takes is for one farang cop to do something scandalous (and for it to hit the press), and then they ALL will be in trouble; not to mention, maybe ALL farangs (even not the cop-farangs) will take the rap.

[HarryHacker]

You wouldn't mind if these farang volunteers were well-rounded individuals, unfortunately, those who appear here on TV are far from that.

A couple of months ago I was traveling to Nong Khai and stopped off in Udon and happened to get talking to a French guy who could speak very little English and zero Thai, had been living here just about a year, had a very strange appearance and admitted he was only living in Udon for the cheap woman. He was proud to be a tourist police volunteer.

How on earth someone like this chap could be taken on I have no idea.

edit for spelling.

Edited November 6, 2008 by HarryHacker

[thaimate]

I don't regard this as a welcome development.

Given the number of cranks and crackpots Thailand attracts, putting them in a uniform and giving them legal powers to do anything beyond that of a car park attendant is asking for problems.

i thaught we left britain to get away from petty officialdom .these w-nkers that join up are the sort of jobsworth that gave out parking tickets in the uk. just love the uniform and power. actually i meant they are the sort who couldnt even get a job as a parking enforcement officer

[simon43]

Chopper, I agree 100% with you. It's even possible that thie guy is not a police volunteer at all, but maybe was before and was kicked out. He would still have his shirt (but probably not ID card - I hope).

Hdrider's friend needs to call me immediately if he sees this type of incident again and I'll ask the Thai police to go down immediately and investigate it.

I will be the first to say that the admission criteria for being a police volunteer are way, way too lax. Hence the regular and embarressing reports here on TV of police volunteers of 'unsavoury' character doing 'unsavoury' things.

I'm doing what I can here in Phuket to try to improve these standards. But I'm just a 'PC Plod', with no authority over other volunteers.

Simon

[HDRIDER]

HI

Not sure if he is from immigration, have only seen him 1 time but my friend tell me he comes a lot of time to Karon, he had a white polo shirt the night i saw him, and believe me he was drunk, my friend just stayed away from him, i will ask my friend if he still come to that bar Soi

[Plus]

So, if a Thai policeman stops me, I know the deal and possible damage. What to expect from a farang volunteer? A lecture on how everybody here follows the laws???

Please spare me the drama of being oh so righteous.

[merck]

I got the following post from another message board where they were discussing the phenomenon of farang police volunteers. It was posted by a farang journalist based in Thailand:

"I sent a Thai reporter to interview some Pattaya tourist police once, just as an excercise mind you.

She got some interesting stuff varied from walter mitty's (one Brit had a card saying he did diplomatic security which clearly did not check out) to others who all had an angle.

One had convictions abroad for kidnap and pimping (beat up one of his girls).

Another had a complaint against him at the British Embassy for using as stun gun against a farang during a police interview.

Another ran a business advising arrested foreigners on how much they needed to pay to have charges dropped (of which he took a cut).

And of course there are the local paper boys whom I presume are in it because they can be there when the news happened, Pattaya Mail, Pattaya City News, Pattaya People, all have members in the volunteer police.

We only get the police version of the news, but I suppose everybody has already noticed that."

[JetsetBkk]

...In Karon,Kata there is a volunteer Farang going around in his uniform and trying to get free drinks all the time...

...have only seen him 1 time but my friend tell me...

[sriracha john]

Funny in how throughout all these countless farang police volunteer threads... there's never been ONE that had a work permit.

[simon43]

Funny in how throughout all these countless farang police volunteer threads... there's never been ONE that had a work permit.

[\quote]

Yes, it would be nice to have a WP for my Phuket volunteer work. It would make me 100% legal. But despite politely requesting a letter (on 3 occasions) from the senior Thai police officer confirming my volunteer work, absolutely nothing has been forthcoming. The simple 5-minute action to write this letter would enable me to get the neccessary WP.

Quite why they are unable/unwilling to do this for foreigners who gave up their own time (and money) to help out is beyond my comprehension...

Simon

[JetsetBkk]

Funny in how throughout all these countless farang police volunteer threads... there's never been ONE that had a work permit.

Do they need one? Better ask the Thai cop who "hired" them. Rumour has it, that the Thai cop gets a few hundred baht per day per TPV for "expenses". Whether the volunteers see any of that is another matter.

[sriracha john]

Yes, it would be nice to have a WP for my Phuket volunteer work. It would make me 100% legal. But despite politely requesting a letter (on 3 occasions) from the senior Thai police officer confirming my volunteer work, absolutely nothing has been forthcoming. The simple 5-minute action to write this letter would enable me to get the neccessary WP.

Quite why they are unable/unwilling to do this for foreigners who gave up their own time (and money) to help out is beyond my comprehension...

Simon

there's something extremely ironic about the notion "police" are working "illegally" ....

[sriracha john]

Funny in how throughout all these countless farang police volunteer threads... there's never been ONE that had a work permit.

Do they need one? Better ask the Thai cop who "hired" them. Rumour has it, that the Thai cop gets a few hundred baht per day per TPV for "expenses". Whether the volunteers see any of that is another matter.

Everyone that works in this country needs either a work permit or work permit exemption letter, both of which are issued from the Labour Ministry.

Is the activity they do considered work?

I think its fairly obvious to the less obtuse that it is.

Rather than protect their workers who are volunteering, the police are leaving them out to fry should even the slightest thing go wrong and their illegal status is uncovered.

[Master Chief]

The volunteer police are working illegally in Thailand, they work with the most corrupt workforce, and so what will be the outcome?

We are not wanted in their education system and we should not be helping out in the law enforcement.

The VP’s have nothing good to give to this system, we should stay away from it all.

MC

[Master Chief]

Would not suprise me if I one day would be stopped by the little goat.

Go figure with the luck I have,

MC

[Mosha]

When they turned up at my house earlier this year. I pointed out my visa said no employment permitted. There response was "No problem, we not pay you" I said "Pay or no pay, it is still classed as working". This I had confirmed on my next 90 day report at immigration. The man their said yes you do need a Volunteer WP

Edited November 10, 2008 by Mosha

[Master Chief]

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Volunteer-Visa-t201175.html

Read the above link, correct information at that topic.

MC

[LivinLOS]

Hi

In Karon,Kata there is a volunteer Farang going around in his uniform and trying to get free drinks all the time, i have seen him so piss.d you won’t believe it, being in my friends bar trying to get free drinks just because of his uniform, that’s really disgusting

You think thats bad.. One of them sells wraps of coke !!

[LivinLOS]

The volonteer officer wasnt acting alone...it was a big roadblock whith a thai superintendent as leader...

So that explains it, then. The farang volunteer was there to help deal with farangs.

And we can now ignore all the stupid posts that jumped to unfounded conclusions.

No unfounded conclusions at all.

All along the Volunteer 'service' has been presented not as a crime investigation system but as a tourist assistance system.. To help you if you have a problem.

Now clearly against what we have been assured over and over we have farangs investigating you. They are checking your papers, checking your car reg, checking your tax.. The change from providing assistance to looking for a problem is a wide gulf. and one we were continaully assured would not be crossed (despite evidence of them being used for undercover work etc etc etc)..

The lack of clear mandate is once again, what is evident and the nut of the problem.

[simon43]

The level to which farang volunteer police get involved in 'investigations' does vary from province to province. In Phuket, none of the volunteers are involved in checking papers, checking car eg, checking tax or undercover work against farang. (We have done undercover work to obtain photographic evidence against the Thais who offer baby gibbon monkeys for photos in Patong. Despite obtaining clear photographic evidence of those involved, and despite passing this evidence 'up the line', it was never acted upon).

Clearly, (from previous TV threads), the 'professionalism' of each volunteer varies greatly, and no doubt there are some (many?) who volunteer for totally the wrong reasons. The Phuket Tourist Police Volunteers have just updated their rules and guidelines documents, and each volunteer must adhere to these rules which are intended to ensure that each volunteer is helping for exactly the right reasons! I'm not sure whether the Pattaya volunteers also have a rigid set of guidelines, (and how/if these are enforced).

Anyway, I do expect to see some of the Phuket volunteers being 'let go' in the near future, either because their work 'ethic' does not meet the minimum requirements, or simply because they cannot speak sufficient Thai, (which is a requirement of this volunteer work).

Simon

[LivinLOS]

Sorry Simon.. But when we discussed this on another forum this is exactly the issues I raised, and precisely what you said was not part of the TVP remit. Yet here it is.

You made it abundantly clear over pages and pages that the TVP's would not be policing anyone, they were, in your words, tourist assistance.. Please explain how checking someones car documents is helping ?? And how many tourists are car drivers.

The real world facts make a constant mockery of your claims.

[simon43]

??? LivinLos, I just confirmed what you said!! The Phuket TPVs do NOT check papers etc etc, do not do undercover work against farang, do not check tax etc etc Read my comments above again

As for TPVs in other provinces, I cannot comment on whether or not they check papers.

Simon

[LivinLOS]

I was commenting on the system as a whole, the TPV system has no clear mandate, no clear public statement of thier duties, aims, and powers.. Things we are told one week get modified to worm around an issue the next.

[barky]

At least with the BiB you know what to expect... What is the criteria for these guys to join the volunteer police anyway? I wouldn't imagine some local Thai driver to be very happy about being stopped, for example...

A Thai would rightly tell them to FO.

[simon43]

Linvinlos - agree with you. There should be a clear, nationwide written policy which precisely defines responsibilities, roles, limits etc.

Since TiT, that won't happen, at least not a common, nationwide policy.

Simon

[Totster]

There should be a clear, nationwide written policy which precisely defines responsibilities, roles, limits etc.

No there shouldn't, because there should not be any Farang in a mickey mouse police uniforms on the side of the road at roadblocks.

A more logical use is to open a volunteer program for foreigners to teach the police language skills, and keep out of the public eye, leave the policing to the actual Police. If the role is to simply act as translation or liason between the tourists and police.. why is there a need for a uniform, simple, because it makes them look self important

What bothers me is who in their right mind would want to move to Thailand, most probably for a better more relaxed life, and then get mixed up in Police activities. The last thing that is needed is a bunch of farang nobodies strutting around acting important, and unfortunately this will and does happen.

Totster

[thaiwanderer]

SImon43, you posted this elsewhere on TV. So have you been working (in your hotel) without a WP? If so I presume you have given yourself up to the real police?

Hi Mario, can I ask how may hours per week you work as a volunteer teacher? I have finally managed to change my ED visa extension (work forbidden), to a 60 day extension based on visiting my Thai son. Within these 60 days I need to sort out a volunteer teaching job (and WP) at my local primary school, (who are extremely happy to have me help out). But I cannot commit to full-time work because I also have to help to run my hotel! (and now I can finally apply for a WP for that job also). I will use my volunteer teaching work as a means of applying for a visa extension. (I cannot use my hotel work because the business is a sole-proprietor and business visa extensions are not allowed for that type of business entity).

So I need some idea of how many hours that I need to work to qualify for a 'volunteer visa extension'. (Note that I am not trying to do the minimum hours of work to qualify for the visa extension. But if it's only possible when working full-time then I will have a problem!)

BTW, although I work as a volunteer tourist police offcier and as an emergency paramedic, no letter of support/confirmation could be obtained from the police boss. This was the case for all the foreign volunteer police (under 50 years old) who needed this letter to assist them in getting a volunteer visa. Quite why this letter was not forthcoming is not clear to me.

Simon

[Ulysses G.]

There should be a clear, nationwide written policy which precisely defines responsibilities, roles, limits etc.

No there shouldn't, because there should not be any Farang in a mickey mouse police uniforms on the side of the road at roadblocks.

What bothers me is who in their right mind would want to move to Thailand, most probably for a better more relaxed life, and then get mixed up in Police activities. The last thing that is needed is a bunch of farang nobodies strutting around acting important, and unfortunately this will and does happen.

Totster

Hear, hear!