An Alternative To The View That Police Want To Rip Off Foreigner

[Theyreallrubbish]

I've posted this a few times and I still hold the view that foreigners are not being targeted, but that its equal opportunity with the Thais.

As a counter example, I was stopped recently for speeding. legitimate stop, I was doing 140 on a main highway. I was stopped, paid by the side of the road and had a ticket issued. Everything polite and professional and easy going and the Thais they stopped were getting exactly the same fines and tickets.

About ten minutes later I was stopped again. Again legitimately as I had been speeding again.

The policeman told me I was speeding and I told him I'd just paid ten minutes ago. I gave him the ticket and he read through it and then he said, "OK, never mind. Thank you." and he let me go on!

I told this to a Thai friend later and she replied, "He was probably surprised you weren't scared of the police."

So again, I don't think we are targeted by the police, but in fact are better treated than the Thai people by the police.

[icequeen]

Maybe it just depends on the officer or their mood that day. I got stopped on my motorbike a couple of weeks ago for not wearing a helmet. I spoke to him in Thai (against some other foreigners advice, I know) showed him my Thai licence and said I was sorry, and he let me go without a fine, just said don't do it again!

[soundman]

This has happened to me on numerous occasions.

Apparently you can only get fined once per day for the same traffic violation, irrespective of how many times you do it after your initial ticket.

Since this appears to be the status quo, I would love to find out whether this is actual law or not.

..........................

One of those situations where paying the official fine, rather than the cheaper "cash" payment, could work in your favour, not that I am advocating breaking any road laws.

[Theyreallrubbish]

Maybe it just depends on the officer or their mood that day. I got stopped on my motorbike a couple of weeks ago for not wearing a helmet. I spoke to him in Thai (against some other foreigners advice, I know) showed him my Thai licence and said I was sorry, and he let me go without a fine, just said don't do it again!

I've found that if you're friendly they let you go without a fine about half the time.

I speak English and say thank you when they tell me what the speed limit is!

I do find that Bangkok police are worse than upcountry.

I was stopped near Lampang a few months ago and about 9 police officers all started joking with me about why someone as handsome as me doesn't have a girlfriend. They still wrote out the ticket though!

[Theyreallrubbish]

This has happened to me on numerous occasions.

Apparently you can only get fined once per day for the same traffic violation, irrespective of how many times you do it after your initial ticket.

Since this appears to be the status quo, I would love to find out whether this is actual law or not.

..........................

One of those situations where paying the official fine, rather than the cheaper "cash" payment, could work in your favour, not that I am advocating breaking any road laws.

If it is the law, I'd love to know as I often do long distance drives. Not that I'd ever speed of course, except by accident, but it would nice to know that i could only be fined once a day for accidentally breaking the speed limit

[carmine]

I've posted this a few times and I still hold the view that foreigners are not being targeted, but that its equal opportunity with the Thais.

As a counter example, I was stopped recently for speeding. legitimate stop, I was doing 140 on a main highway. I was stopped, paid by the side of the road and had a ticket issued. Everything polite and professional and easy going and the Thais they stopped were getting exactly the same fines and tickets.

About ten minutes later I was stopped again. Again legitimately as I had been speeding again.

The policeman told me I was speeding and I told him I'd just paid ten minutes ago. I gave him the ticket and he read through it and then he said, "OK, never mind. Thank you." and he let me go on!

I told this to a Thai friend later and she replied, "He was probably surprised you weren't scared of the police."

So again, I don't think we are targeted by the police, but in fact are better treated than the Thai people by the police.

Good to hear, but, this probably is dependent on where you live in Thailand

[Travel2003]

This has happened to me on numerous occasions.

Apparently you can only get fined once per day for the same traffic violation, irrespective of how many times you do it after your initial ticket.

Since this appears to be the status quo, I would love to find out whether this is actual law or not.

..........................

One of those situations where paying the official fine, rather than the cheaper "cash" payment, could work in your favour, not that I am advocating breaking any road laws.

Hmmm, you just gave me a business idea.

Maybe start producing "tickets" with various fines on them, and sell them for a lower sum.

When stopped, just show the right ticket. and drive on.

No, seriously.

I think I mentioned the following some time ago.

A few years ago, some (Thai) friends and I stopped by a pool bar on Sukhumvit, to play for a an hour or two, before we were headed for the guys gig. My friends are musicians.

Just as we are about to enter one of the tollways, we are stopped, together with a lot of other cars.

The driver had been drinking 2 maybe 3 Heineken the last 2 hours, but tested positive for alcohol.

Into the office by the higway we all went, and a fine was written out.

He had to stay in jail over night if the fine was not paid there and then.

I borrowed him the money, and here comes the shocker, he was given the car keys back, together with the receipt for the fine.

And off we went.

Of course, by the time we started again it had already been 3-4 hours since the 2-3 beers were consumed so he was ok, but not tested again to see if he could drive.

After all, the fine was paid.

[KevinBloodyWilson]

I've posted this a few times and I still hold the view that foreigners are not being targeted, but that its equal opportunity with the Thais.

As a counter example, I was stopped recently for speeding. legitimate stop, I was doing 140 on a main highway. I was stopped, paid by the side of the road and had a ticket issued. Everything polite and professional and easy going and the Thais they stopped were getting exactly the same fines and tickets.

About ten minutes later I was stopped again. Again legitimately as I had been speeding again.

The policeman told me I was speeding and I told him I'd just paid ten minutes ago. I gave him the ticket and he read through it and then he said, "OK, never mind. Thank you." and he let me go on!

I told this to a Thai friend later and she replied, "He was probably surprised you weren't scared of the police."

So again, I don't think we are targeted by the police, but in fact are better treated than the Thai people by the police.

This is one example and I am sure there are many others, but to quote this one example and then generalise it across the board is just Polyanna-like, even though it may genuinely reflect a single experience of the OP.

There is however a huge body of anecdotal evidence to say that the police do target foreigners, though of course it may not be so easy if you are in a car.

There is surely no doubt that many police and many other Thais swindle everyone since they have no educational or cultural moral compass to guide their behaviour, but that foreigners are their favoured targets for some kinds of swindle.

Edited September 11, 2009 by KevinBloodyWilson

[mca]

Apparently you can only get fined once per day for the same traffic violation, irrespective of how many times you do it after your initial ticket.

Since this appears to be the status quo, I would love to find out whether this is actual law or not.

Too true! Buy a Honda Fireblade, find the nearest copper and pull a wheelie, some burnouts, a flat out ride past and a few stoppies. Pull over, get him to fine you and spend the rest of the day going ballistic.

Or get shot.

[Patong Bob]

Generally paying a fine and getting a receipt gives you three days grace, i.e.caught with no helmet - three days to buy a helmet. You only have to show the policeman your receipt.

[thaihome]

I agree with the OP that the police are more criminals of opportunity then actually aiming at foreigners in particular. Many people on this forum probably spend a lot of their time in the tourist ghettos so it is easy to see why they would think the police are going after them in particular.

Once you get away from those areas, you see that the police actually go more for the lower working classes then anyone else. Prime example is pulling over all the trucks with upcountry plates over at the highways into Bangkok and also setting up virtual roadblocks pulling over every motorcyclist on various main roads.

TH

[mca]

^ 2 points i wholeheartedly agree with. A friend of my wife from school is a police colonel and we were having a chat about this very topic and he said (at least in my neck of the woods) the police will generally let a foreigner through because a) They're usually legit regarding their vehicle and driving and a westerner is more likely to kick up a stink if they've been pulled for some "infringement" that didn't exist and simply aren't worth the hassle.

As mentioned by the man above they're more interested in 3 high school students on 1 bike with no helmets or a shitpile of a pick up with about 15 folks on board.

He fully admitted the traffic cops were bent.

[desi]

Apparently you can only get fined once per day for the same traffic violation, irrespective of how many times you do it after your initial ticket.

Since this appears to be the status quo, I would love to find out whether this is actual law or not.

Me too.

And how fun.

[KevinBloodyWilson]

^ 2 points i wholeheartedly agree with. A friend of my wife from school is a police colonel and we were having a chat about this very topic and he said (at least in my neck of the woods) the police will generally let a foreigner through because a) They're usually legit regarding their vehicle and driving and a westerner is more likely to kick up a stink if they've been pulled for some "infringement" that didn't exist and simply aren't worth the hassle.

As mentioned by the man above they're more interested in 3 high school students on 1 bike with no helmets or a shitpile of a pick up with about 15 folks on board.

He fully admitted the traffic cops were bent.

lol.

Just the traffic cops right?

lol

[samran]

just lends credence to my advice.

Don't do anything here that you wouldn't do at home...speed, undertake illegal turns etc....

They don't have anything to ping you with, and if they try, you ask for a ticket and they invariably let you go.

[Netfan]

I've got 4 BiB and one GiB in an MBA class. 4 Work out of Lumpini station doing everything from traffic control to undercover drug buys. The other is a doctor at the Police Hospital. All are nice folks who care about their job and how they are seen. They have actually changed my opinion of Thai cops in general. They don;t like corruption, but do admit there is a "system" that has been in place for so long its not even seen as wrong anymore. Kind of like NYC until Serpico came along. Okay, these are educated Bangkok cops, not upcountry bumpkins, but its nice to know they exist. The good news - the highest ranking guy told me if I ever get stopped, just give the officer his number

I'll ask about the ticket grace period next week. They all agree the worst thing anyone can do is start to give them a hard time. You won't win.

Edited September 11, 2009 by Netfan

[mca]

^ 2 points i wholeheartedly agree with. A friend of my wife from school is a police colonel and we were having a chat about this very topic and he said (at least in my neck of the woods) the police will generally let a foreigner through because a) They're usually legit regarding their vehicle and driving and a westerner is more likely to kick up a stink if they've been pulled for some "infringement" that didn't exist and simply aren't worth the hassle.

As mentioned by the man above they're more interested in 3 high school students on 1 bike with no helmets or a shitpile of a pick up with about 15 folks on board.

He fully admitted the traffic cops were bent.

lol.

Just the traffic cops right?

lol

Yeah he said he was completely honest and then in the next breath offered me some timber from a protected forest to build my garden chill out area with.

[Iamemjay]

A relevant good news/bad news story:

Driving in CM the other day - heading to the Wororot Markets. Usual access road (beside US Consulate) closed for roadworks - forced to detour by turning right. Next intersection, road becomes one way - the opposite direction - HAD to turn left, Come up to intersection with road I want to go on - beside river to the market - a right turn. Problem! Sign says no right turn. Other vehicles in front of course turned right - only way to get to destination other than crossing river and doing u-turn which would have caused absolute havoc! So I turned right, against the sign. Mistake! Had my window wound down - copper could see it was a farang!!

He followed me on his m/b right into the markets carpark where he duly issued the ticket and absolutely refused to listen to any explanation. As he had taken my P/p I had to go directly to the police station where against my Thai wife's protests I firmly and repeatedly requested to speak to the o/c. This caused lots of confusion but as I kept insisting, they eventually relented. He was surprisingly young and very friendly. He listened to the situation, agreed that the no right turn should have been covered up while the other road was closed and reduced the fine from 400B to 100B - apologised about the 100 B, giving the reason that - wait for it! - they had to make it at least 40B because that's what the officer who wrote the ticket must be paid! (No recognition that the ticket perhaps should not be written at all!!)

Anyway. they saved face and I saved 300B - win/win??

Oh! The real clincher seemed to be when my wife pointed out that all the Thais drivers ahead of us were let off scot free but only the farang had been targeted.

As I said - good news but bad news, confirming that at least in this case the gun was loaded against a farang driver.

PS. Wife was amazed that the farang tendency to protest against injustice instead of (Thais) just lying down actually worked!!

[a2396]

I have never had any problem with the Thai police and they have let me off with a warning a couple of time for minor infractions on my MC. They have been very polite and professional, compared to the arrogant jerkwater police in USA.

[mca]

The only time I've been stopped where the cop could have booked me (illegal u-turn in central Khon Kaen) had me making out I didn't speak a word of Thai. His mates were cracking up so much at his attempts to speak English that in the end he just started laughing himself and waved me on.

I know people have and will be tucked up by the Dibble but I have to speak as I find. Never had a single problem. It's either been window down, seen it's a westerner and a "Move on" or a quick check of the driving license, a "Where are you going?" and a "Move on"

The strangest one for me was a police road block in Loei. They pulled the 3 cars in front of me and the 2 behind and let me through. Didn't even give me a glance so it wasn't a case of Officer Bumpkin not wanting to deal with the foreigner.

[PeaceBlondie]

I have never had any problem with the Thai police and they have let me off with a warning a couple of time for minor infractions on my MC. They have been very polite and professional, compared to the arrogant jerkwater police in USA.

Same experience in over six years in Thailand, but opposite experience in USA even in Houston.

[JiveTalker]

There's a policeman who directs the traffic near me. He smiled at me once when he waved me on.

Great.

[webfact]

Maybe some of you might remember him. In the 90s there was a traffic cop on Sukumvit 71 who was actually dancing when

directing traffic. It was amazing to watch and AFAIK he became quite a celebrity...

You may want read some stories about the police in other countries... there are bad apples everywhere.