Big Trouble In Tourist Thailand

[NanLaew]

A note is that unless I am mistaken, StateSix is a former police constable.

From the US of A right?

That explains exactly what? The Howard-haters will always find some lame justification for their vitriol. Usually they are from the camp with a general disrespect for the law and authority. Sometimes it comes from some with vague claims to being 'involved' in real law enforcement.

The show is quite entertaining, moreso when one actually lives in the middle of the sh!t they are sensationalising. A bit like reading a Stuart Macbride novel and being born in Aberdeen.

[KhunAussie52]

Culturally insensitive comment......this is about ones ability to communicate......Bridge gaps.......not wide them with your comments!!

[KhunAussie52]

Home page of the Tourist Police Volunteers

http://www.thaitouristpolice.com/main.php

for those wishing to make a complaint......click on services- complaint/petition

http://thailandfashion.net/blog/?cat=25

Edited September 27, 2009 by KhunAussie52

[syd barrett]

I have just seen episode 3 {They are all available on youtube} and I was interested to learn more about the 1/2 million dollar gold scam in Pattaya.

Anyone know more about what happened, or any links? Thanks.

[britmaveric]

Those lads were muppets who gave their dosh to a lad claiming they'd get 20% return on their investment. Might as well been a Nigerian email scam.

[NanLaew]

^ Yes, they did look every bit the cheated serious business entrepreneur filing a complaint with the local police while wearing their Singha t-shirts and flip flops didn't they?

[perousing]

i think it would be fair to say that the thai police force is one of the most corrupt and unjust anywhere in the world, who would want to assist them, and for what reason is beyond me.------ ps before you start whinging howard and his assistants are only doing it help the tourists,--- yeh rite --- get a life

No one is debating the merits, or lack thereof the Thai police. There is probably not much disagreement on that angle.

However, I am not connecting why you you think a TPV would want to join to "assist them"? What makes you think that? Is it your vast experience with the TPV, or just your dislike of authority that colors your opinion?

I don't think anyone is whinging about "howard and his assistants are only doing it help the tourists"...that's my opinion based on the people I know in the TPV having spent some time with them (in Phuket) and seeing what they have to deal with.

As to you last comment of "get a life". Do you think that helps validate your opinion, or makes you look silly? Just asking.

i would like to make it clear that i think that a good and honest police force is a key element in any country, and law and order must be maintained at all costs,---- i have no dislike of authority and my opinion is my own personal judgements on my people i know in the PATTAYA F.T.P.A ---- "GET A LIFE"--- no i dont think it makes me looks silly but others members are free to disagree with me,--- comments like "whinging and anonymous muppets" thats silly, when you take into account that this is a forum where everone is anonymous and whinges is that not what forums are are for ie (agree and disagree )the only difference here is we are on a very touchy subject.

[rayong09]

Scenario....laying in some alley off Walking Street just had a bottle smashed over your head by some nutter and you don't know whats going on around you....

A: Thai police arrive speaking in Thai only not really interested in you and making you feel even more freaked out then what you are.

B: Tourist police arrive speaking in your native language and doing everything possible to help you.

I'll take option B all day long, thanks.

[Lancelot]

What exactly do they give back to their community? Referring to the Pattaya TPV. I've never seen them do anything that requires a black uniform to carry out. Perhaps a little tin badge would be sufficient!

Like I said, they liaison between the regular Thai police and tourists. If you disagree, thats your prerogative.

I hit Walking Street about once a week and I've observed the TPVs from time to time. They seem to be doing a good job and I've not seen them lording it over people.

Edited September 27, 2009 by Lancelot

[sjaak327]

As long as they indeed serve as a liaison between tourists and the regular police and /or tourist police, then that's perfectly fine. As Simon43 explained when he described his job at the Lumphini station. Nobody can find anything wrong with that, much respect indeed.

But as seen in the first episode, the Pattaya lot are taking it one step to far. They have absolutely nothing to do at a crime scene. Not only is that not what they signed on for, they potentially can mess it all up, as I doubt they had proper training in how to search and handle evidence. I gave them the benefit of the doubt, but afer having seen the 'bust' at that food vendor cart supposedly in search of yaabaa they lost that benefit. Again that scene shows exactly what is wrong with the setup as applied in Pattaya. Not even the tourist police has anything to do there, let alone a bunch of volunteers. They Royal Thai police in this case is the only relevant and authorized entity to do that search. That apparently a BIB was present is completely besides the point.

Be off assistance of tourists in Pattaya, not going to conducts searches on food carts, or be part in stinging operations.

I sure hope someone in that big office on Phetburi tat mai is going to let these guys know that they are not supposed to be playing coppers. And while they are at it, require any member of the force to speak proper Thai, why else would you even be of any use.

Edited September 27, 2009 by sjaak327

[Penkoprod]

What would put this argument to bed once and for all,would be if the police-like paraphernalia was taken away from them, and plain white (or, better still, "royal" yellow) coloured polo shirts with some neutral message on the back, like "Volunteer Assistant" were to be issued in their place. Just send them on their way in pairs or even packs, like they do now, with just a walkie talkie in case of emergency, and a 1st aid kit of some sort.

You would THEN see how many would fall by the wayside and suddenly find "other, more urgent" things to do with their time. Those that remained would gain more respect for doing what they do.

Penkoprod

[gemdealers]

Yes, I am one of 3 main characters in the program (which is still being filmed by the way!).

Finally people will see what we REALLY do, which is very different to the BS written on chat forums.

It follows the Tourist Police around Thailand, but the main "action" comes from Pattaya.

I actually think that the program is a great advert for Thailand (the crime side is nothing you wouldn't see in any other tourist city). The camera teams have gone around Thailand to show the UK audience the beauty of Thailand which is a big part of the series.

It is filmed in a very "funky" way as it is on a channel which targets young guys.

I have seen rough cuts of the show and it looks good.

I was out in Walking street last night and noticed that although the Thai Hobby Bobbies were out and about there were no Westerners.

Has that show Big Trouble in Tourist Thailand caused them some problems??

I think for what it is worth that having Westerners as a buffer to the Thai Police is a sensible idea but if the volunteers then decide to be De Facto Police and put people into the corrupt, racist and barbaric legal system here then that is deplorable.

I would like to know what the current situation is with this Hobby Bobby program that the Thais are doing.

[BTITmaker]

We're reaching halfway point - Episode 4 of Big Trouble In Thailand airs on Monday ... thanks everyone for your stamina and the interest you've shown in the series. BTIT is going down a storm in the UK - Bravo's highest-rated programme with hundreds of thousands of people watching on TV and online ... and any fan of BTIT is a fan of Thailand!

In this week's show ...

A Bangkok Airways plane crashes into a control tower on Samui, killing the pilot - local Tourist Police Volunteers Linda and Louise and and the British Consul respond. Brit passengers are injured, some tell of their miraculous escape. Programme contains never-before-seen video and photographs of the immediate aftermath and rescue effort. As usual, Thai Tourist Police seen doing an excellent job.

It's Songkran in Chiang Mai and mayhem on the roads - we're on the scene of another DUI incident involving backpackers on a motorbike - hurt, under the influence and no helmets. And we visit a motorbike 'graveyard' - filled with the mechanical remains of fatal accidents - with Chiang Mai Tourist Police Volunteer and sausage and bacon king Rob, originally from Manchester.

BTIT goes out on river patrol with the tooled up border police in Chiang Rai, armed to the teeth and looking for drug smugglers - this week's Thai jail inmate who gives us his account of life in the monkey house is Michael Connell from Manchester - he's still doing a lot of time in Bangkwang for drug smuggling.

And what would Big Trouble In Thailand be without TPA Howard Miller who finds himself in the middle of a lively punch-up between a Thai man and a group of deaf tourists. DO NOT RESIST US!! Tourist Police Assistant Paul Harrison is also in this week's programme, responding to a fire at an apartment block in Pattaya.

[simon43]

I've been meaning to contribute again to this thread. My comments are rather OT from the OP, but perhaps better to post in this thread than start a new one.

I'm basing my comments upon 2 years of working as a volunteer with the Thai Tourist Police in Phuket, 1 year as a liaison translator at Lumpini police station, and more recent volunteer work with the FPV group in Pattaya, (not the same as the group which patrol in Walking Street).

I guess many people who read this thread do not realise that there are several different groups who assist the Thai police in one way or another.

The national group are the Tourist Police Volunteers, of which there are both Thai and foreign volunteers. Although this group is part of the Royal Thai Police, the actual implementation of procedures, clothing and regulations is made at a local level. That is why the teams differ in what they actually do, according to whether you are in Pattaya, Phuket, Samui, Chiang Mai etc. (That, IMHO is a mistake - there should be a national and common policy that is implemented right across the country, with no 'local interpretation' of these rules).

There are also a number of local groups, such as the Immigration Volunteer group in Phuket, the Foreign Police Volunteers (FPV) in Pattaya, and the Bangkok Liaison Translator Group in er.... Bangkok!

My own view is that there is definitely a need for those with Thai language skills to assist the Thai Police in their dealings with non-Thais. Those language skills would also include translating into other European and Asian languages, since not all tourists can understand English.

The provision of advice about the complex visa regulations is also a useful service.

My view is that any locally organised 'volunteer' group should only operate within the confines of the police station or immigration office or tourist information office, and if they are required to leave their office to assist a tourist, then this should be done only with a Thai police or immigration officer.

The Bangkok Liaison Translator Group fulfill this criteria, and I enjoy assisting them with their work.

The FPV team in Pattaya also meet this criteria - they are based at the Soi 9 police station and do not usually leave that office, certainly not without a Thai officer.

The Immigration Volunteer group in Phuket work from the immigration office in Phuket Town, and provide a very good information service. But they also patrol in Patong, and I cannot agree that this is a necessary part of their work.

The only group who should be operating away from a police station are the Tourist Police Volunteers (TPVs), and their responsibilities and limits of authority should be very clearly defined. I guess many TPVs probably do not know their limits of authority, primarily because their Thai supervising officers have failed to explain this, and to emphasize the importance of knowing these limits.

As for understanding Thai, this should be a fundamental requirement for any person who wishes to assist the Thai police. I am not talking about speaking fluent Thai (I can't!). But a volunteer should be able to speak basic Thai, and know the words and phrases that will be used often.

There should be a national program within the TPV to teach English to Thai volunteers, and to teach Thai to foreign volunteers. I also feel that there should be a single foreign volunteer supervisor who is responsibile for managing (together with his Thai counterpart supervisor), all foreign TPVs in Thailand, and ensuring that rules are implemented across the board without regional differences, and ensuring that volunteer standards are adhered to at all times.

I feel that the foreign TPVs are best managed as a group within the Thai Tourist Police, but that their role be titled as 'Tourist Assistance Volunteer', for that is the job that they should be doing

Simon

[OxfordWill]

It does strike me as strange that Howard apparantly only knows a few choice words of Thai. I would say it takes 2-3 months of personal study at home in the evenings, an hour here and there, to parrott enough sentences to deal with 90% of the situations he finds himself in. I did notice that his Thai was really rather bad, unless bravo edited out all the bits where he spoke it well and left in the couple of times he tried to use a single word to ask or answer a question to a Thai person. I think he would be infinitely more useful if he improved his Thai. But he is useful now, as I previously commented- but he could be moreso. Hes already got the understanding of basic cultural norms, he appears to control himself well (at least in front of a camera, one must remain sceptical until proven otherwise..) and his explanations of thai culture are not incorrect. I just wonder why he hasnt improved his lingo skills.

Edited September 27, 2009 by OxfordWill

[Patsycat]

I think Howard hansum man Especially when he is cuddling the wee monkey in her dress....

As to his Thai language skills - he is basically involved in sorting out problems with tourists who do not speak Thai. And in the documentary he is speaking English. We do not know from watching the programme how fluent he is in Thai. Probably speaks it at home with her indoors...

[cdnvic]

I think Howard hansum man Especially when he is cuddling the wee monkey

You mean the Kosovo guy, or the actual monkey?

[OxfordWill]

Well as I said, in the documentary we do see several examples of him speaking some thai.

[GungaDin]

Does anyone know what species the animal was/is that Howard was holding?

Def. not a monkey, looked like a nocturnal (?) smuggled from the Philippines.

[Mark Wolfe]

Until this moment I was unaware that "muppet" was a naughty swear word.

I was watching these guys crying about having given their life savings to some dude in a gold scheme and thinking, "I wouldn't want to be filmed complaining about this; it DOES appear that I was a total sucker and was well and truly duped. Do I really want the whole world to know this?"

It makes me wonder if somewhere out there someone is answering the Nigerian email scams. I mean I don't know the details other than they saw an ad in the Bangkok Post, but I get the impression that they just handed over half a million dollars.

Gold man: "Give me all your money and you'll get 20 percent return in gold."

Investors: "Really? Great, but how do I know you are honest?"

Gold man: "Trust me."

Investors: "OK, here you go; here's my life savings."

Gold man: "Gosh, is that the time? I really must run. ..."

[Donnyboy]

Does anyone know what species the animal was/is that Howard was holding?

Def. not a monkey, looked like a nocturnal (?) smuggled from the Philippines.

bush baby ??

not this one either

Edited September 27, 2009 by Donnyboy

[syd barrett]

Until this moment I was unaware that "muppet" was a naughty swear word.

I was watching these guys crying about having given their life savings to some dude in a gold scheme and thinking, "I wouldn't want to be filmed complaining about this; it DOES appear that I was a total sucker and was well and truly duped. Do I really want the whole world to know this?"

It makes me wonder if somewhere out there someone is answering the Nigerian email scams. I mean I don't know the details other than they saw an ad in the Bangkok Post, but I get the impression that they just handed over half a million dollars.

Gold man: "Give me all your money and you'll get 20 percent return in gold."

Investors: "Really? Great, but how do I know you are honest?"

Gold man: "Trust me."

Investors: "OK, here you go; here's my life savings."

Gold man: "Gosh, is that the time? I really must run. ..."

It is easy for intelligent and educated and canny folk to laugh at the misfortunes of others who have been cheated out of their personal wealth.

The facts are that some people are cheated by fellow ex-pats in Pattaya. These cheats deserve to be exposed and receive the full penalty of law.

So many posters on this forum can sit back and laugh, but I have seen good friends and extended family members cheated. Often they are the most vulnerable in society.

In a way, I think professional con-men are the lowest of the low, lower than burglers, drug dealers and rapists.

[Mark Wolfe]

So many posters on this forum can sit back and laugh, but I have seen good friends and extended family members cheated. Often they are the most vulnerable in society.

They who? Good friends and family?

Sorry, but this scam does not sound sophisticated in the slightest. If these guys were taken for say, US$10,000 I'd think, "That was stupid, but at least you didn't lose your shirt." But they put in THEIR LIFE SAVINGS! Who moves all their liquidity in the first place without some very, very serious due diligence?

[GungaDin]

Does anyone know what species the animal was/is that Howard was holding?

Def. not a monkey, looked like a nocturnal (?) smuggled from the Philippines.

bush baby ??

not this one either

<snip>

A Slow Loris from the Philippines ?

A very tiny primate! Only feeds at night.

Howard, do you recognise this little feller?

[britmaveric]

^I'd have to agree there - one should mever involve themselves in get rich schemes - cries out for desperation and inherently laden with fraud. Anyone with half a brain cell should know better. Now should the conman be held accountable, I'd say ye...but I doubt anything will happen or they will ever see their dosh again. Did you see the look on the tourist polices faces - that sort of said it all.

[R123]

As long as they indeed serve as a liaison between tourists and the regular police and /or tourist police, then that's perfectly fine. As Simon43 explained when he described his job at the Lumphini station. Nobody can find anything wrong with that, much respect indeed.

But as seen in the first episode, the Pattaya lot are taking it one step to far. They have absolutely nothing to do at a crime scene. Not only is that not what they signed on for, they potentially can mess it all up, as I doubt they had proper training in how to search and handle evidence. I gave them the benefit of the doubt, but afer having seen the 'bust' at that food vendor cart supposedly in search of yaabaa they lost that benefit. Again that scene shows exactly what is wrong with the setup as applied in Pattaya. Not even the tourist police has anything to do there, let alone a bunch of volunteers. They Royal Thai police in this case is the only relevant and authorized entity to do that search. That apparently a BIB was present is completely besides the point.

Be off assistance of tourists in Pattaya, not going to conducts searches on food carts, or be part in stinging operations.

I sure hope someone in that big office on Phetburi tat mai is going to let these guys know that they are not supposed to be playing coppers. And while they are at it, require any member of the force to speak proper Thai, why else would you even be of any use.

The above is a good posting.

But I have to say as a long timer now in Pattaya I have great unease about these "black shirts". Most of them do not appear to speak anything other than pidgeon Thai, and I have seen them around town throwing their weight about.

All the proper Thai police authorities need to do is train a select group of Thais to speak acceptable English and other common languages used by foreigners in Thailand (eg German, Russian) plus give them sufficient training in how to handle tourists and then as soon as possible replace these pretend cops with the Thai police officers who are then fully trained and are proper policemen., with the powers and responsibilties that office brings with it.

To me that Miller bloke in the series comes across as quite sinister and with a big mouth. He has various business interests in Thailand which may will cause a conflict of interest. They say he is a former DJ which hardly qualifies him.

Has proper background checks been done on him and the other "volunteers"?!

Edited September 27, 2009 by R123

[spysee]

I have finished watching the whole show yesterday and say it is utter crap. It even looks fake. While we all know there is problems in Thailand. That show was just over the top

[Geekfreaklover]

I thought the latest (episode 3) was the best so far. It seemed a lot more REAL than the previous installments. The street violence, angered bar girl, predatory lady boys and theiving Kosavan were no way set-up. If it were then there should be some Oscar nominations for those bunch of clowns. Hopefully more to follow in this vein.

[NALAK]

" As tourism to Thailand grows in leaps and bounds, do tourists need to take lessons in the art of being good guests?

Noel Kelly, head of the Koh Samui Tourist Police Volunteers' Group on Thailand's Koh Samui Island, has a unique view into the current state of tourism on the island. "Petty theft is a major problem", he says. "We work with the Tourist Police to provide assistance in these and other cases. The role of the Tourist Police is not to police the tourists, but to act as a cultural bridge."

never seen farang tourist police for years in Samui, i thought we had rid the streets of them years ago. the bald headed guy in pattaya is obviously on ego trip, the clip showing him trying to stop under cover filming shows this , he should check what powers he does not have. i cannot see why the Thais cannot train there own police in language skills. would love to see those guys playing policeman try it in Samui. i have a few guys i drink with who are real police and even they loathed them.

[Geekfreaklover]

Does anyone know what species the animal was/is that Howard was holding?

Def. not a monkey, looked like a nocturnal (?) smuggled from the Philippines.

bush baby ??

not this one either

<snip>

A Slow Loris from the Philippines ?

A very tiny primate! Only feeds at night.

Howard, do you recognise this little feller?

Yes. It's a Slow Loris. There are a number living wild in Thailand. The Laotian breed is redder in colour.

They are actually very slow movers by nature. Nocternal. So I don't buy the fact that the Loris is being drugged. I think that was staight out of 'Howard's end'. If you hand rear them they can become quite tame. A Thai friend whos no longer with us had one as a pet. 500 bt at Chuckuchat market about ten year ago.

Don't buy one BTW. They are a protected specis.

Edited September 27, 2009 by Geekfreaklover