Request For Personal Experiences With Law Enforcement / Judicial Process In Thailand.

[TheyCallmeScooter]

I am interested in reading someone posting on his/her personal experience with Thai police,

corrupt in what way, not a second hand info just first hand experience please.

Iv'e had a few experiences..good and bad...but your post is off topic..maybe you should start a new topic and i would gladly post my experiences..if you do PM me with the topic url and like i say i will gladly post...no doubt a few other members would also.

block

In another thread, the above posts were made which I found fascinating for personal reasons. Primarily because I'm very naive, I suspect. And I do not wish to be naive. And an incident I witnessed recently alarmed me greatly and I may have to make some big decisions if even a fraction of the hearsay I've been exposed to since is true.

Please post any personal experiences you have had in this regard? Or I beg you to PM me if you prefer not to discuss them in the public domain? All I can offer in my word that our conversations and PMs will remain 100% confidential and deleted permanently upon completion. Or, if you prefer, please email me @ sampdunlap AT gmail.com?

Whilst I understand there are those of you who may have been treated poorly by law enforcement personnel [here or overseas], and are perhaps justified in any emotive feelings you may wish to express, I'm really more hoping for more of a coldly analytical discussion of personal experiences and tips for dealing with situations that may arise. Needless to say, please leave out any identifying information which could be viewed as slanderous without evidence provided.

And again, please contact me privately if I may beg of you the favour - and you aren't comfortable with posting your experience / advice in the public domain.

I'll kick us off.

I have only the best things to say about Bangkok / Phuket police. I have been treated with dignity and compassion on the 1-2 times I have interacted with each, even though I was in the wrong every time. Once was drunk / dangerous speeding on a moped in Phuket and the others were littering offences when I wasn't thinking / discarding smoking butts. I admit a very stupid 6 year younger version of myself even half-attempted to avoid a large fine by offering 1/4th of the fine amount in cash :facepalm - whilst I would have perhaps technically deserved stricter punishment, the policeman handled it 100% fairly imo, merely gave me a VERY harsh look, and repeated his outline of my offence and issued me my [deserved] official fine receipt.

[TheyCallmeScooter]

an incident I witnessed recently alarmed me greatly

I should explain this incident did not involve any police. Merely the threat of involving them uttered by an insane girl who was incensed at the 'nerve' of the host politely requesting she leave with her friends who had to leave for work and had brought her along as a guest in his house.

She wanted to remain. Which is fine, but permission to remain was not granted as the host needed to get back to work and somewhat reasonably did not want to leave a stranger in his house.

His calm and polite requests that she depart were responded to with screams that she would call the police to "deal with him". We laughed at such a 'threat'. We're not laughing and we suspect the parentheses I just used were perhaps inappropriately placed, even though no crimes have been broken or are being broken at his premises. If the obvious drift is gotten....

[sokal]

an incident I witnessed recently alarmed me greatly

I should explain this incident did not involve any police. Merely the threat of involving them uttered by an insane girl who was incensed at the 'nerve' of the host politely requesting she leave with her friends who had to leave for work and had brought her along as a guest in his house.

She wanted to remain. Which is fine, but permission to remain was not granted as the host needed to get back to work and somewhat reasonably did not want to leave a stranger in his house.

His calm and polite requests that she depart were responded to with screams that she would call the police to "deal with him". We laughed at such a 'threat'. We're not laughing and we suspect the parentheses I just used were perhaps inappropriately placed, even though no crimes have been broken or are being broken at his premises. If the obvious drift is gotten....

When I was a young dumbass I got arrested for being in a heated dispute that almost resulted in a fight, with another tourist. The tourist police took me to the station and fined me 500 bht. They also took away a knife I had in my pocket. While I was in the station, the other guy showed up and was escorted past me. We both started insulting each other again. The police just laughed about it.

Other times I have just got traffic violations that I was guilty of. Not much else to be said, I just pay my tickets. So far I have not witnessed any blatant police corruption.

If you get caught with drugs then you are done, there is no excuse and you are in for one hel_l of a ride.

[TheyCallmeScooter]

If you get caught with drugs then you are done, there is no excuse and you are in for one hel_l of a ride.

Thanks for your post but perhaps I need to be more explicit than I thought required.

Define "caught with drugs". A policeman saying he found drugs on me? Cause, fuc_k that shit. I need to leave the country if that's true....

[sokal]

If you get caught with drugs then you are done, there is no excuse and you are in for one hel_l of a ride.

Thanks for your post but perhaps I need to be more explicit than I thought required.

Define "caught with drugs". A policeman saying he found drugs on me? Cause, fuc_k that shit. I need to leave the country if that's true....

If you failed a piss test, a pat down or a search then he" found drugs on you."

Do I really think a random Thai policeman would completely fabricate a story just as a favor for one of his girlie friends ? No.

Try and buy him out I guess. If its hard drugs then run.

[TheyCallmeScooter]

If you get caught with drugs then you are done, there is no excuse and you are in for one hel_l of a ride.

Thanks for your post but perhaps I need to be more explicit than I thought required.

Define "caught with drugs". A policeman saying he found drugs on me? Cause, fuc_k that shit. I need to leave the country if that's true....

If you failed a piss test, a pat down or a search then he" found drugs on you."

Do I really think a random Thai policeman would completely fabricate a story just as a favor for one of his girlie friends ? No.

Try and buy him out I guess. If its hard drugs then run.

Why would a policeman plant soft drugs on their target?

The girl was quite attractive but I do not believe the risks are related to such frivolities. My friend is quite wealthy. I am often at his place. Our mocking of her was, in hindsight, regrettable but in our defence, she was batshit crazy and, as we're not criminals, threatening to call police in response to a polite request to depart for reasons of locking up the premises seemed so ludicrous to us at the time.

Perhaps my paranoia is unjustified but I'm genuinely quite concerned. I have some random talent in reading 'intent' in people's eyes, and although I was still laughing at her as she screamed [whilst her friends dragged her out], I distinctly remember seeing "contempt" in the sense that we were just not 'getting' it and she would show us. She has some mental health concerns obviously, so I blew off the curious 'read' as worthless. However now...um?

---------

Whilst I could Google how things are 'supposed' to happen, what I'm interested in is how things *actually* happen - in relation to warrants, forced entry into premises, if we are alone and the police walk in with 1kg of heroin under their arms and say I was holding it when they walked in....I know stuff like this happens in Philippines and other countries. Surely not here as well?

[MegaMik]

If you get caught with drugs then you are done, there is no excuse and you are in for one hel_l of a ride.

Thanks for your post but perhaps I need to be more explicit than I thought required.

Define "caught with drugs". A policeman saying he found drugs on me? Cause, fuc_k that shit. I need to leave the country if that's true....

If you failed a piss test, a pat down or a search then he" found drugs on you."

Do I really think a random Thai policeman would completely fabricate a story just as a favor for one of his girlie friends ? No.

Try and buy him out I guess. If its hard drugs then run.

Why would a policeman plant soft drugs on their target?

The girl was quite attractive but I do not believe the risks are related to such frivolities. My friend is quite wealthy. I am often at his place. Our mocking of her was, in hindsight, regrettable but in our defence, she was batshit crazy and, as we're not criminals, threatening to call police in response to a polite request to depart for reasons of locking up the premises seemed so ludicrous to us at the time.

Perhaps my paranoia is unjustified but I'm genuinely quite concerned. I have some random talent in reading 'intent' in people's eyes, and although I was still laughing at her as she screamed [whilst her friends dragged her out], I distinctly remember seeing "contempt" in the sense that we were just not 'getting' it and she would show us. She has some mental health concerns obviously, so I blew off the curious 'read' as worthless. However now...um?

---------

Whilst I could Google how things are 'supposed' to happen, what I'm interested in is how things *actually* happen - in relation to warrants, forced entry into premises, if we are alone and the police walk in with 1kg of heroin under their arms and say I was holding it when they walked in....I know stuff like this happens in Philippines and other countries. Surely not here as well?

I once met this girl, not in a bar, who just moved into my house without my conscent.

Really surprising when I found her in my house I rented after a tour to the supermarket.

She had taken my key and made a copy the very same day (and only day) I met her. Have no clue how she could have gotten the key but she did.

I told her to please leave but she refused.

She also asked me for money and I gave her 1000 TBH, aha you think, stupid move, noho I say, very smart move.

She went out drinking that night, I changed the locks in the mean time, put her stuff out in the yard and told my neighbours what was going on and left for a small vacation, 24 hours.

She called my mobile a couple of times in the wee early morning after but smart as I am, I didn't pick up the phone, nor when any unknown numbers turned up on the display.

I came home and were faced with a note saying she will have the police arresting me for rape and other charges. I took the note to the police station and explained the whole thing.

They smiled and told me not to worry as they all know what a scorned Thai lady will do or try to do.

They made a note of my visit and complaint and that was it.

I got a phonecall 2 years after and it was her again, telling me she wasn't angry and if we could see each other.

My immediate response was to shout H-L NO but I kept my posture and said in a very very calm and nice voice, I can't because I have a girlfriend and she would certainly kill me if I see another woman.

Other times I have been pulled over by the police when driving my motorbike or car, to check for illegal things or driving license but most often, they don't even look properly at my Thai driving license and just send me on my way.

There's bound to be a few bad apples in the police force but I myself haven't come across anyone so far in 4 years.

[tingtongfarang]

When i first arrived here i was on a work contract but had 2 weeks free to settle in, I went traveling with the son of a thai friend for 1 week but while walking through rayong a tourist got quite loud from outside a bar as we walked past with rucksacks demanding my travel companion to remove his tshirt as he found the print disturbing. my companion had a look of horror on his face as this drunken tourist came marching towards him saying something to the effect of taking the tshirt off him,

Maybe panic or not having time to think about my actions i subdued the guy and we walked away without a word spoken, we had,nt got more than 100 meters when the police came and arrested us...took us to the station, we tried both to explain what had happened but the police only seemed interested that we pay with a figure of 30,000 thrown in, as we normaly converse in greek which confused the police we made a plan to try to convince them we did,nt understand what they were talking about but they just became more explicit in their demands for money,

The end result was that we made a phone call to his father and after 20 minutes they drove us back to the spot where they had arrested us and apologized, it was my first time in thailand and infact had only been here 3 days...i found the whole sittuation very scary.

Apart from that it happens often that i,m stopped for a traffic violation, I have to admit that in the car i,m almost never stopped unless on a long journey and accused of speeding ...i make it understood in no uncertain terms if they expect tea money they are at the wrong address, even the ones at the bangna toll booth have given up on me now and just wave me by,

On the motocyc it can happen that i,m stopped 2-3 times per week and attempts are made 50% on these occasions for tea money still i have never handed over money to them but have paid 2 tickets at the station in 4 years of driving here,

Edited July 16, 2010 by tingtongfarang

[Moonrakers]

I have been hear for a decade and never had a problem (touch wood).

I can even say that my positive experiences with the BIB have outweighed the negative, although I must admit that corruption (bribery) have definitely made my experiences more positive.

Are the BIB corrupt? Of course they are and I have lost count of the times when I have taken advantage of this.

I have never been extorted for money though, not once. (touch wood again). There was a time when two cops stopped me for no particular reason and I was very wary of their intentions, I started making lots of noises in broken Thai about insisting on going back to the station and they soon backed down.

I suspect that their bosses kick their asses not for being corrupt, but for getting caught at being corrupt.

[TheyCallmeScooter]

I have lost count of the times when I have taken advantage of this. I have never been extorted for money though

Yup the difference between those is really huge. The former I can live with, often advantageous I imagine...the latter terrifies me.

Does anyone have any tips for how one would handle a spot where it appears likely they were a target of extortion...I'm thinking paying without blinking simply has to be optimal? Is everything requested or communicated directly or are you expected to recognise the subtext of the 'misunderstanding' etc?

Also, any experiences with warrants or police without warrants who seem determined to enter? I just realised how ridiculous it is that I'm not certain how that stuff works in terms of right to search etc....