Police And Guns In Bangkok

[Geekfreaklover]

Walking home Sukhumvit 68 with my five year old son at 8pm last night, just as we get inside the town house hear a gun shot. Look out the window and theres a Thai youth wriggling around on the drive just the other side of our gate. Take my son upstairs for safety and hear another two shots from the policemans glock. A few minutes later the policeman knocks on the door and asks for a glass of water. The youth is hand-cuffed and another two police officers are on the scene. Turns out the kid was selling Ya Ba at the top of the soi, they chased him by motorbike to where they corned outside my dwelling. The kid hadn't actually been shot, the shots fired were warning shots apparently.

My question is, has there been some kind of clamp down on drug dealers? What the hel_l is a cop doing firing a gun early in the evening in a resdidential area when there are children around?

I've lived in Thailand over ten years and never seen the police act so irresponsibly in all my time here (and that is really saying something).

Be careful out there.

[submaniac]

TiT. Just be careful. There's no citizen's brigades or ACLU's for the cops to contend with so they just will start shooting as they please.

[thaipod]

I had a simular incident in my soi about 6 months ago, my neighbour rang the police to report a couple of guys selling yaba . two police bikes arrive and then waits for the other police get to the other end of the soi to block off the overgrown land then I hear shooting and see the young policeman running with a walky talky near his ear and gun blazing .

What shocked me he was firing into a large community in the backround a few hundred metres away .

Most of these thai police should not have guns !

[junglist]

I had a simular incident in my soi about 6 months ago, my neighbour rang the police to report a couple of guys selling yaba . two police bikes arrive and then waits for the other police get to the other end of the soi to block off the overgrown land then I hear shooting and see the young policeman running with a walky talky near his ear and gun blazing .

What shocked me he was firing into a large community in the backround a few hundred metres away .

Most of these thai police should not have guns !

Don’t forget or mess with the Police motto “We Can Do Anything (we want because we have the guns and you don’t)”. Sad but true. Hope the shots were not fired in the air. Last year a descending bullet killed a young boy as he was swimming. What goes up must come down.

[hansnl]

Walking home Sukhumvit 68 with my five year old son at 8pm last night, just as we get inside the town house hear a gun shot. Look out the window and theres a Thai youth wriggling around on the drive just the other side of our gate. Take my son upstairs for safety and hear another two shots from the policemans glock. A few minutes later the policeman knocks on the door and asks for a glass of water. The youth is hand-cuffed and another two police officers are on the scene. Turns out the kid was selling Ya Ba at the top of the soi, they chased him by motorbike to where they corned outside my dwelling. The kid hadn't actually been shot, the shots fired were warning shots apparently.

My question is, has there been some kind of clamp down on drug dealers? What the hel_l is a cop doing firing a gun early in the evening in a resdidential area when there are children around?

I've lived in Thailand over ten years and never seen the police act so irresponsibly in all my time here (and that is really saying something).

Be careful out there.

If you hear or see shooting, drop down on the floor, going upstairs is not so handy.

If you need to flee the premises, being upstairs, where do you go, more upstairs?

That was quite irresponsable from you and rather stupid.

You brought danger to your son.

Yes, there seems to be a lot of anti-drug action.

And why would a policeman shoot, you think?

I guess being shot at, it might seem handy to shoot back, even in a residential area.

One might think that policemen will have an reasonable understanding of guns and shooting, while one can presume that a drugsdealer will not have that knowledge.

Yes, all Thai policemen have firearms training.

And yes, they will shoot, just because there is a huge amount of firearms going round in Thailand.

Guess, if a drugdealer shoots at a policeman he is only thinking about himself, and not about collateral damage, as they say.

One may hope the policeman will do just that, and will try to disarm or incapicitate the dealer.

Be certain that if a policeman hits civilians, that is not viewed upon favourably.

I really do not understand people like you, complaining about the policeman, and not about the drugs dealer.

I rather think that a drugsdealer going on a shootings spree in a residential area is slightly more dangerous.

And being a drugsdealer, I do have a feeling that I would not mind the bastard getting killed.

Espescially if he operates in a residential area where there are a lot of children about(= potential easy customers)

[lonewolf99]

I have often wondered at the actual skill and ability a Thai policeman might have when using a firearm.

Many Thai policemen are not physically large. In many case they are small and very light weight, even if they do wear boots with "lifts" to give them a couple of inches.

The revolvers they carry are normally huge. The recoil from them must be massive on their skinny wrists. Their accuracy must be apalling.

The S.A.S. and S.B.S. in the UK armed forces have a guideline that when using 9mm hand guns at close quarters deadly accuracy is up to a range of 11 feet.....yes you read correctly.

These are highly trained personnel. ( If I told you how I know I would have to shoot you)

So the chances of a Thai policeman hitting anything he aims at are slim to none. But innocent bystanders are in grave danger. :jap:

Keep your heads down folks..........

[lazygourmet]

In my moobaan even the police or local official -whatever their ranks- have to leave their id -and gears-at the security guards.

Also, the security makes sure that they are invited guests by calling previously the soi where they pretend to go before entering in the compound.

[jc7]

I really do not understand people like you, complaining about the policeman, and not about the drugs dealer.

I rather think that a drugsdealer going on a shootings spree in a residential area is slightly more dangerous.

And being a drugsdealer, I do have a feeling that I would not mind the bastard getting killed.

Espescially if he operates in a residential area where there are a lot of children about(= potential easy customers)

hansni, you are so clueless it's untrue.

[Wossnext]

I really do not understand people like you, complaining about the policeman, and not about the drugs dealer.

I rather think that a drugsdealer going on a shootings spree in a residential area is slightly more dangerous.

And being a drugsdealer, I do have a feeling that I would not mind the bastard getting killed.

Espescially if he operates in a residential area where there are a lot of children about(= potential easy customers)

hansni, you are so clueless it's untrue.

Funny that, I was just thinking to myself I should go back to hansni's post and say the very same thing. Thanks for saving me the trouble.

[kurnell]

I had a simular incident in my soi about 6 months ago, my neighbour rang the police to report a couple of guys selling yaba . two police bikes arrive and then waits for the other police get to the other end of the soi to block off the overgrown land then I hear shooting and see the young policeman running with a walky talky near his ear and gun blazing .

What shocked me he was firing into a large community in the backround a few hundred metres away .

Most of these thai police should not have guns !

Don't forget or mess with the Police motto "We Can Do Anything (we want because we have the guns and you don't)". Sad but true. Hope the shots were not fired in the air. Last year a descending bullet killed a young boy as he was swimming. What goes up must come down.

I thought Mythbusters proved that a bullet falling to earth after being fired in the air does not reach a high enough velocity to fatally wound someone?

[mrtoad]

I really do not understand people like you, complaining about the policeman, and not about the drugs dealer.

I rather think that a drugsdealer going on a shootings spree in a residential area is slightly more dangerous.

And being a drugsdealer, I do have a feeling that I would not mind the bastard getting killed.

Espescially if he operates in a residential area where there are a lot of children about(= potential easy customers)

hansni, you are so clueless it's untrue.

Funny that, I was just thinking to myself I should go back to hansni's post and say the very same thing. Thanks for saving me the trouble.

give him some credit though, he is consistent . I'm sure there was another one of his classics on The Phuket Forum a few months back, where it gave many some amusement.

[inquisitive]

I had a simular incident in my soi about 6 months ago, my neighbour rang the police to report a couple of guys selling yaba . two police bikes arrive and then waits for the other police get to the other end of the soi to block off the overgrown land then I hear shooting and see the young policeman running with a walky talky near his ear and gun blazing .

What shocked me he was firing into a large community in the backround a few hundred metres away .

Most of these thai police should not have guns !

Don't forget or mess with the Police motto "We Can Do Anything (we want because we have the guns and you don't)". Sad but true. Hope the shots were not fired in the air. Last year a descending bullet killed a young boy as he was swimming. What goes up must come down.

I thought Mythbusters proved that a bullet falling to earth after being fired in the air does not reach a high enough velocity to fatally wound someone?

You can both be right. I never saw that particular Mythbusters, but it is my understanding that a bullet fired straight up would lose velocity as it rose until it actually stopped and hovered in mid air. Then it would begin to descend, gaining speed at the rate of 32 feet per second per second minus whatever drag the bullet had as it cut through the air. So if we leave out drag, at teh end of the dfirst second teh bulet is dropping at a rate of 32 feet per second (around 20 MPH). By the end of three seconds it would be travelling at 60 MPH or a mile a minute. When I think of a piece of lead travelling at 60 MPH and hitting me in my forehead, I am not too comfortable! If the bullet had been shot up high enough it would continue to accelerate. The drag would also grow as the speed increased. At some point the drag would equal the acceleration and the bulet would have acheived its "terminal velocity", meaning it would continue at that speed and no higher. It is possible that this terminal velocity is slow enough that it would not normally be fatal. On the other hand, I think it is probably faster than a pebble thrown by the sling of a young boy, and whatever THAT speed was, it was enough for David to use to kill Goliath.

Now if the bullet was not shot straight up into the air, then it would never actually stop in mid air, so it could still be flying at supersonic speeds when it reached some unknowing child floating in a swimming pool.

Bottom line: Don't try this one at home, folks.

[thaihome]

Mythbusters Results

Bullets fired into the air maintain their lethal capability when they eventually fall back down.

busted / plausible / confirmed

In the case of a bullet fired at a precisely vertical angle (something extremely difficult for a human being to duplicate), the bullet would tumble, lose its spin, and fall at a much slower speed due to terminal velocity and is therefore rendered less than lethal on impact. However, if a bullet is fired upward at a non-vertical angle (a far more probable possibility), it will maintain its spin and will reach a high enough speed to be lethal on impact. Because of this potentiality, firing a gun into the air is illegal in most states, and even in the states that it is legal, it is not recommended by the police. Also the MythBusters were able to identify two people who had been injured by falling bullets, one of them fatally injured. To date, this is the only myth to receive all three ratings at the same time.

[ableguy]

Walking home Sukhumvit 68 with my five year old son at 8pm last night, just as we get inside the town house hear a gun shot. Look out the window and theres a Thai youth wriggling around on the drive just the other side of our gate. Take my son upstairs for safety and hear another two shots from the policemans glock. A few minutes later the policeman knocks on the door and asks for a glass of water. The youth is hand-cuffed and another two police officers are on the scene. Turns out the kid was selling Ya Ba at the top of the soi, they chased him by motorbike to where they corned outside my dwelling. The kid hadn't actually been shot, the shots fired were warning shots apparently.

My question is, has there been some kind of clamp down on drug dealers? What the hel_l is a cop doing firing a gun early in the evening in a resdidential area when there are children around?

I've lived in Thailand over ten years and never seen the police act so irresponsibly in all my time here (and that is really saying something).

Be careful out there.

If you hear or see shooting, drop down on the floor, going upstairs is not so handy.

If you need to flee the premises, being upstairs, where do you go, more upstairs?

That was quite irresponsable from you and rather stupid.

You brought danger to your son.

Yes, there seems to be a lot of anti-drug action.

And why would a policeman shoot, you think?

I guess being shot at, it might seem handy to shoot back, even in a residential area.

One might think that policemen will have an reasonable understanding of guns and shooting, while one can presume that a drugsdealer will not have that knowledge.

Yes, all Thai policemen have firearms training.

And yes, they will shoot, just because there is a huge amount of firearms going round in Thailand.

Guess, if a drugdealer shoots at a policeman he is only thinking about himself, and not about collateral damage, as they say.

One may hope the policeman will do just that, and will try to disarm or incapicitate the dealer.

Be certain that if a policeman hits civilians, that is not viewed upon favourably.

I really do not understand people like you, complaining about the policeman, and not about the drugs dealer.

I rather think that a drugsdealer going on a shootings spree in a residential area is slightly more dangerous.

And being a drugsdealer, I do have a feeling that I would not mind the bastard getting killed.

Espescially if he operates in a residential area where there are a lot of children about(= potential easy customers)

Good post but I suspect the reality is he was not getting his cut. the BIB that is

[Geekfreaklover]

Hansel,

This was, like, a real life situation, you know, and not one of the computer games you sprain your wrist playing.

The drugdealer did not have a gun, I know, because I was, like, there and everything.

Edited July 12, 2010 by Geekfreaklover

[joboss]

I really do not understand people like you, complaining about the policeman, and not about the drugs dealer.

I rather think that a drugsdealer going on a shootings spree in a residential area is slightly more dangerous.

And being a drugsdealer, I do have a feeling that I would not mind the bastard getting killed.

Espescially if he operates in a residential area where there are a lot of children about(= potential easy customers)

hansni, you are so clueless it's untrue.

I think hansni is thinking outside the box. Yaba is creating a new environment in street crime. I support the Thai police and thank hansni for the positive heads up. You may help your sons future by supporting the removal of drugs from your area.

[Kilgore Trout]

Where are all the usual replies I would expect; "shoot him on sight," "any drug user or seller should be shot on sight" these kind of comments are usually all over this kind of thread.

Anyway, what do you expect from keystone cops.

I once saw a yabaa dealer captured by the neighborhood "brigade" chained to the bumber of a car and beat with a metal pole (viciously) before being dragged to the cops (this was all happening with police supervision).

[phaethon]

The S.A.S. and S.B.S. in the UK armed forces have a guideline that when using 9mm hand guns at close quarters deadly accuracy is up to a range of 11 feet.....yes you read correctly.

These are highly trained personnel. ( If I told you how I know I would have to shoot you)

Recent surveys have shown that 99% of all expats in Pattaya are former or serving members of UK or US special forces.

Very safe place, Pattaya...

K.