Big Trouble In Tourist Thailand

[cdnvic]

I just deleted some libellous statements. If you can't prove anything, don't slander others here.

[cali4995]

oh dear god, here i am coming to the defense of the volunteers. i'm going to burn aren't i? yeah, like

has been said before the "pattaya branch" might not be operating as other divisions in the country and

perhaps it is not fair to generalize. either the original mission was somehow misunderstood or possibly it

has been altered, something doesn't appear quite right. but you know the thai volunteers have many of

the same problems. people impersonating actual officers, trying to shake people down, outfitting themselves

with actual weapons. i think volunteering in general and then "volunteer police" maybe can not be categorized

in the same sense. in the interest of forum harmony, i have also self-edited. give peace a chance.

Edited August 28, 2009 by cali4995

[britmaveric]

Well well....another thread about the volunteers of pattaya......yawn....6 years and counting!!!

Some things you need to know:

FPV's, Foreign Tourist Police Volunteers are based at Soi 9, Pattaya Police Station. They also help at Immigration and with the Highway Police (which I strongly oppose by the way!!!!)

FTPA's (Foreign Tourist Police Assistants), work mainly on Walking Street, but will often get called in to assist Pattaya Police with cases.

Niels Colov is the Group Leader of the FPV's

I (Howard Miller) am the Group Leader of the FTPA's.

WE ARE COMPLETELY SEPERATE GROUPS.....therefore any complaints should be forwarded to the relevant Group Leader, preferably face-to-face. Comments on this and other forums are ignored and regarded as baseless, especially because most of the posters are anonymous and just enjoy the power a chat forum gives them.

You can make complaints to me on Walking Street most evenings after 9pm at the Tourist Police Mobile Unit. I will be happy to listen to them, and I will act upon them if they are genuine. I am also happy to explain to anyone face-to-face on Walking Street about what we do and how we have helped thousands of Tourists and ex-pats over the years.

Pulled this from another thread that Howard responded to which is worth repeating - think a lot of what is questionable is being confused with the tourist police volunteers and foreign tourist police assistants. As you can see above these are two different groups.

Edited August 28, 2009 by britmaveric

[Lost in LOS]

well looking at that trailer we can see this is going to be a disaster and another nail in the coffin for pattaya. Bad enough showing all the problem farangs, then you have to see a paramilitary looking farang explaining it all. It is going to look like an episode of cops.

this wont be look good to potential family visitors and shame on the tourist police volunteers for helping some sensational journalism to the detriment of Thailand, their presence will add credence to the story

[britmaveric]

Not just Pattaya, but Koh Samui, Phuket, Bangkok, and Chang Mai in case you forget.

[cali4995]

No, it doesn't appear that the promo TV spot is going to do the average farang here any favors. More of the same

sensationalistic journalism. thailand is a paradise for drug takers and sexual deviants yada-yada-yada and while

the volunteers may gain some favorable exposure, it is going to come at the detriment of everybody else. and in

truth these people are such a tiny minority it really does kind of come at a time when you know? was it necessary?

[simon43]

Just commenting on some of the points made over the last couple of pages:

@PS3, you mentioned bicycle patrols. Last year in Phuket, the TPVs (both Thai and foreign) were presented with 4 brand new mountain bikes and helmets, to be used for cycle patrols around Patong - in polo shirt and shorts. Although it sounds a good idea, in practice few volunteers were keen to cycle on a hot day around the busy streets. The last I saw was that someone had nicked the cycle helmets and the bikes had flat tyres - A pity!

The TPVs in Patong are not 'stationary'. They are required to patrol in pairs up Bangla Road to Beach Road, then go left or right and walk back down the next parallel road, then back to Bangla Road, thus making a complete circuit of about 2km, then over to the soi Paradise area. Usually in a 3 hour period they manage 2 circuit patrols, plus 3 or 4 times up and down Bangla and in and out all the bar sois.

So you do need to be reasonably fit! Older volunteers are offered office duty if they are not up to the walking patrols.

Of course, there could be an inident in Bangla Road when the volunteers are in an adjacent road. The walkie-talkie sets have limited coverage. Last year, I did some trials with a base station antenna mounted on a mast atop my parked car in Bangla Road. This greatly extended the radio coverage and meant that the volunteers could be quickly alerted to someone needing assistance.

As for carry night-sticks, I note that these have never needed to be 'drawn' in Phuket by the foreign TPVs. I therefore requested that the volunteers be allowed not to carry them. Unfortunately, my request was turned down.

I cannot speak for the volunteers in Pattaya, and as for BKK, I can only comment on volunteer work that I did a few years ago, so things might have changed. Most of my TPV work was in Phuket, but even that has finished for me since my relocation to Pattaya.

My own (very personal) view is that the 'lure' of the police uniform does seem to attract some dubious characters If all volunteers were required to go through a stringent probation procedure, similar that that undertaken in the UK by police volunteers, then we would have very, vert few volunteers on the street!

I would prefer to see the team renamed as the Tourist Assistant Volunteers, (TAV), under the authority of the Thai Tourist Police, and wearing a uniform of baseball cap, white polo shirt and dark blue shorts, with the TPV small badges as currently exist, but with 'Tourist Assistant Volunteer' logo on their shirts, and not carrying any nightstick.

These volunteers should be able to speak good Thai, should assist tourists and expats with translations, medical and other assistance. The requirement to intervene in disputes, fights etc that involve tourists should be done purely in the role of a 'responsible citizen', with the authority to restrain where neccessary, (just as exists for ALL citizens who go to assist at an incident).

That's my very personal opinion. I guess if you remove the 'police' logo and nightstick, the number of people offering to volunteer would drop - but quality is better than quantity.

For me, I am not concerned what uniform I am required to wear, since that is irrelevant to how I do my volunteer work. I guess having TAVs and not TPVs would also gain us more respect from some of the doubting expats!

Simon

[britmaveric]

Doubtful Simon - people will whinge no matter what they are called or wear - this should be obvious from this thread.

[Moonrakers]

I think that they should all wear liederhosen (sp).

Edited August 28, 2009 by Moonrakers

[LaoPo]

I think that they should all wear liederhosen (sp).

Lederhosen:

that would be funny and harmless although the Brits, Dutch, Scandinavian, French, Spaniards etc. would associate them with Germans (Bavarian) which would lead to aggression; not a good idea.

Police Volunteers ? YES:................Thai ! - friendly (older) male-female couples dressed in friendly colours and speaking some English.

No foreigners.

LaoPo

[bob6023]

Is this about the pretend Police?

Another chance for them to big note themselves on TV as that's all I've ever seen them doing in real life.

I Agree.......wanabes.. can't make the grade at home, right?

[ttthailand]

Perhaps some conflicts for the tourist police on patrol but why not have them to setup STING operations. Have the real police standing by to assist when needed.

1. Put them in plain cloths and have them walk beach road at night. The pick pockets need to be thined out.

2. Put gold chains around their necks and have them ride the Baht buses.

3. Rent a motor bike, jet ski, ...... and see if they get ripped off.

Etc, Etc ....

Perhaps this is already happening but if not it would sure help in getting some of the scum off the streets.

[KhunAussie52]

Perhaps some conflicts for the tourist police on patrol but why not have them to setup STING operations. Have the real police standing by to assist when needed.

1. Put them in plain cloths and have them walk beach road at night. The pick pockets need to be thined out.

2. Put gold chains around their necks and have them ride the Baht buses.

3. Rent a motor bike, jet ski, ...... and see if they get ripped off.

Etc, Etc ....

Perhaps this is already happening but if not it would sure help in getting some of the scum off the streets.

Good Ideas!!!!!!

[KhunAussie52]

Is this about the pretend Police?

Another chance for them to big note themselves on TV as that's all I've ever seen them doing in real life.

I Agree.......wanabes.. can't make the grade at home, right?

I presume,that you are talking about a few TP Volunteers in Pattaya......?

[lildragon]

Great...

Bravo have made a show about. This will be billed up there with boozy brits abroad and Ibzia uncovered

Thus being a boozy brit abroad will no doubt be glorified and the young men that watch these programmes will want to come out here to give it ago themselves. *sigh*

Cheers Bravo

[allexx]

I think that they should all wear liederhosen (sp).

Lederhosen:

that would be funny and harmless although the Brits, Dutch, Scandinavian, French, Spaniards etc. would associate them with Germans (Bavarian) which would lead to aggression; not a good idea.

Police Volunteers ? YES:................Thai ! - friendly (older) male-female couples dressed in friendly colours and speaking some English.

No foreigners.

LaoPo

....we all know that FTPA, from an earlier poll, that 75% of the voters here on TV don’t want you in Pattaya. Must be an unpleasant feeling that you’r not wanted.

[britmaveric]

^Polls with trolls and whingers rarely mean much. Howard and his lot are always welcome.

[SoiGirlHunter]

That video sealed it for me, a video is worth a million words

[britmaveric]

^but rarely tells the truth.

[laukra]

Perhaps some conflicts for the tourist police on patrol but why not have them to setup STING operations. Have the real police standing by to assist when needed.

1. Put them in plain cloths and have them walk beach road at night. The pick pockets need to be thined out.

2. Put gold chains around their necks and have them ride the Baht buses.

3. Rent a motor bike, jet ski, ...... and see if they get ripped off.

They do have sting operations, but I think it's limited to the news posted earlier.

1. Have sex with prostitutes from other countries and then arrest them after they've shot their load.

[cyb]

Why don't we all get back on topic and wait for the first episode?

Then you can all pass judgement on wether it's good or bad instead of all this conjecture and hearsay.

Not to mention defamatory comments that have being displayed on this thread.

[cdnvic]

Why don't we all get back on topic and wait for the first episode?

Then you can all pass judgement on wether it's good or bad instead of all this conjecture and hearsay.

Not to mention defamatory comments that have being displayed on this thread.

Good advice. Two "loud" posts removed. Next time the poster will be removed.

[dumball]

Why don't we all get back on topic and wait for the first episode?

Then you can all pass judgement on wether it's good or bad instead of all this conjecture and hearsay.

Not to mention defamatory comments that have being displayed on this thread.

'Fraid that kind of advise/suggestion will fall on the deaf ears of those ingrained types with tunnel vision , nice try though .

[Ulysses G.]

They do have sting operations, but I think it's limited to the news posted earlier.

1. Have sex with prostitutes from other countries and then arrest them after they've shot their load.

You DO have a point!

[cyb]

'Fraid that kind of advise/suggestion will fall on the deaf ears of those ingrained types with tunnel vision , nice try though .

At least i tried, Cannot do better than that.

Time for dinner i think, at least thats what her outdoors says anyway.

Then about 6 hours at the office

[KarenBravo]

Wonder how many of the shaved head, tattooed brigade would volunteer if they knew they would be stuck in the police station with translation duties?

How many of the foreign police volunteers can actually speak, read and write passable Thai?

If they can't, why were they accepted into an organization that is primarily to liase between Thais and foreigners?

[a99az]

I think that recruiting volunteers from the west to help the tourist Police in Thailand is a sound idea, providing that the recruits are honest.

But some people who get into a uniform seam to go through a sort of metamorphous and abuse their power.

Why ?

Here's a list with the world's 50 most visited tourist attractions in 2007, varying from 35 million to 2,4 million tourists per year...and Thailand isn't even on that list.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourism#Most_...ted_attractions

Name me one single country in the entire world (or even on a smaller scale: Asia) which has (also) -foreign- Police volunteers to control tourists....

Are they in Indonesia....Malaysia....Singapore...Philippines.....China....Vietnam....Hong Kong.....you want me to go on ?

It's absolute nonsense and silly to have foreign police volunteers.

It's the lazy, corrupt and in-adequate police force itself (like member Simon described), who found it a good idea to have foreign police volunteers.

How idiot, stupid and silly.

This country, which can be soooo Farang unfriendly, agrees with -foreign- police volunteers...to control and check upon tourists and who dress in black uniforms with handcuffs and a Truncheon......acting as a cultural bridge.... .....yeah right.

I don't know about other members but I would be scared of a couple of Farang, dressed up in black uniforms in a holiday destination, accompanied by a truncheon and handcuffs.

Black uniforms have a VERY nasty taste, still... 60 years after WWII ended and the nowadays youngsters know this!

If any country around the Mediterranean would dress up foreign police volunteers in black uniforms I guarantee a disaster and enormous fights between hundreds of youngsters and these "volunteers".

They would be off the streets in no-time.

It's utter nonsense and asking for trouble.

IF...just IF they are needed, dress them in friendly white suits with white caps but not BLACK !

Where in the world are black dressed police officers...? Anybody ?

This isn't a nazi country for heavens' sake

LaoPo

aid

I stand by what I have said and will add that maybe Thailand is ahead in being first to use foreign volunteers

in the Thai Tourist Police.

[oldskool73]

Wow, what a load off off topic foul mouthed comments. The program's on Bravo, home of 'Brits abroad' and 'scariest police chases'. It's going to be an over the top look at the stupid things Brit's get up to on their 2 week holiday in Thailand, not some deep expose of the volunteers or the Thai police in general. You can see it clearly from the trailer, pissed up young guys starting fights, the guy inside moaning about the conditions, and the teary girl who seems surprised they'd lock you up for drugs.

To the guy apparently adamant these are the only police in the world that wear black, you might be interested to learn that police across the UK switched to a black uniform about 3 years ago. Meet the friendly face of UK police...

info : www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-458502/Police-force-ditches-shirts-ties-black-shirts.html

...and of course there's a few in the US....

info : www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,352471,00.html

...and even Germany...

...there's loads more, a quick google will back me up

If it's up for a vote though, I go with...

[sailor1x52]

Mentions Howard.... wonder if that's Howard Miller? (Howard if reading please confirm or not)

N0 it is NOT Howard Miller.

[hm1973]

Mentions Howard.... wonder if that's Howard Miller? (Howard if reading please confirm or not)

N0 it is NOT Howard Miller.

eeerrrr....yes it is me!!!!