Village Policeman

[dbrenn]

The mrs runs a village shop in a small village about 15km from the nearest ploice station. Today a policeman run up a drinks and food bill for over 300 baht and deceided not to pay. This amounts to 3 days profit for the shop. The mrs is well pi**ed off and wants to complain to the City cops. For me its peanuts but feel if nothing is said then the situation could repeat itself with other bent cops or if we do complain this could cause problems for us in the future. What would you do.............

That's a very difficult situation. Any good or bad outcome from complaining depends on the cop, and whether he is just trying it on or whether he is intent on extorting protection - the 'I get the occasional freebie here in exchange for leaving you alone' type. Nearly all Thai cops are corrupt and will take what they can get away with, but there are a few who behave more like the mafia and should be treated with caution. I think that your judgement of his character will determine whether or not you think that it is worth compaining, and what the result wll be.

Try to keep it light hearted, so nobody loses face. Make it into a pointed joke at first. Thai cops take it personally when they lose face, and you don't want to be on the receiving end.