7-Eleven Joins Thai Police In Fighting Crimes Against Foreign Tourists

[khaowong1]

Great idea! At least you can have a beer while getting things sorted out!

But seriously, it's not a bad idea. If you are a tourist here for a short stay, you won't have a cell phone, probably don't even know about the tourist police much less where they are. And most police don't speak English. At least you can head into 7/11 and have them make a call for you. It will be interesting to see how this works out.

Hey, at least they are trying...

And yes, they do work at night. My friend got stopped in Bangkok a few weeks ago and didn't pass the sobriety test. Luckily, being a Thai hi-so, they let him park his car and come back and get it the next day rather than towing it...but he did have to pay the fine....obviously.

It drives me nuts when someone comes along and says; "Hey, at least their trying". no, they are not trying, they don't care about anything but money. Here's how to stop some of this. stop paying the policeman the fine.. tell him you will go to the court to pay the fine.. 8 out of 10 times, they won't even write you a ticket.

[sunanta]

was'nt it 7 11 that armed mister aldhouse with a knife or two and aided him in killing the american sailor?

Well... most 7-11's seem to have an abundance of staff, so maybe this could work.

TheWalkingMan

[yellow1red1]

Sawasdee kha, can I help you sir.

Sawasdee Khrap. Yes, I would like 2 boxes of Marlborough, one Pot Noodle, 2 Bottles f Chang and 12 Policeman please as I have just been mugged by 20 Thai's just sitting outside.

Of course sir. That will be 290 Baht and the Police will be there tomorrow. Sawasdee Kha, next please.

muggers with hearts, aight --- leaving you 290 for necessaties

ha ha ha

[kuffki]

I think it is a bloody good idea.

The 7 eleven's are a farang's 1st thai home when he finds his away around the out backs of Thailand by themselve for the 1st time. So there may be teething problems like drunk Russians trying to talk English but it is at least making an attempt to allowing English speaking falang to make contact with an English speaking police link when you need most to be to have some one understand you.

Hi guys do somebody thought yet we are living in Thailand and we shd speak Thai instead to complain Thai people can not speak English?

Clearly English is not your first language, but i did not know that tourists should speak or learn Thai and not other way around

But we have to learn and speak english as Tourists in London Convenience stores ?

Considering that English is an international language and is language that is spoken by at least 8 countries-yeah YOU SHOULD

[kuffki]

Basically this is a good idea.

7/11 staff do know the word for police.

There are not many tourist police stations, so 7/11 should have the

number for the nearest one and get an English speaker or some equivalent

to show up from there.

I do not think there are any tourist police stations, there is only 1.

As per OP staff will be calling the general number not the station number.

Being tourist police, one would expect that all tourist police speak English.

As for understanding "police help, police help" for starters i would not be so sure it will be understood(it always takes 3 go's IN THAI to buy 500 baht phone card, and while my Thai may not be the best, but speaking in Thai and showing 5 fingers and hearing words like DTAC, i would of thought would be enough to get the idea, but sadly it is not and i always need to repeat myself and show my fingers minimum 3 times) So to understand "police help" may be little harder then you imagine.

Not to mention if someone was in such a need, last thing on their mind would be to run to nearest 7-11 in hope its the one that offers help.

And lastly while it might in some freakish way be a great idea, but usually all the crime against tourists d'not occur in tourist heavily populated areas.

Wow, you must speak some seriously bad Thai. I have never had such a problem and my Thai ain't great. Are you sure you're actually in Thailand? LOL

Also, please expand on evidence you have that "ALL the crime against tourists does not occur in heavily populated tourist areas". I personally find that very difficult to believe!

yeah my Thai does not even compare to yours, because you would be almost fluent and get all the tones correct.

now we have the provide evidence crew in town, well how about common sense and some logic?!!!!! How would crimes against tourist be committed in the areas where there are no tourists???? Do you hear of any crimes being committed against a tourist in the remote village of Surin? i have not! This fascinating fact may have something to do with the fact that tourists do not go to remote village of Surin!!! DOHHHH

Now from my post, in which part of usually did you struggle with?would like me to write it in Thai for you???? perhaps then you will have less problems with it!

My apology i did not finish this post, lost connection.

So to continue, it would be almost impossible to mention beyond retarded to commit some crime against a foreign tourist when you are surrounded by mainly foreign tourists.-thats just logic. Did you want evidence for simple logic?and once again the operative word i used was USUALLY.

and perfect example would be Kaorsan Rd, you hear of many crimes there?-i have not

You hear of any crimes in Nana?(besides of course ladyboys robbing)-i have not

MBK?, Central in Pattaya? or Central in BKK?

[kuffki]

+

1. As someone already mentioned staff at 7-11 hardly speak any English

2. So a victim is to walk around from 7-11 to 7-11 trying to find which one can help?

3. Whats the kickback to 7-11?

4. What would be a response time? 24 hours?

5. What about Family Marts? why not involve them and also may be the tailors, since there is one on every corner.

Now they say staff have undergone special training, what training was that? Police does not have any training, so what did they teach the 7-11 staff? How about having the "great little helpers" the farang volunteers stay at those 7-11, since there is no shortage of them trying to get in.

I dont know what you're all b*tching about, they offer to HELP police, not take over their duties. they hire pretty good people and screen thoroughly. if you cant find police, 7 11 is a good place to check.

why all the unecessary and untrue negative remarks? Why so many complaints? why not just go back to your homeland then?

+1

-7 and then another 11 and you be close

[gougouluxembourg]

I think it is a bloody good idea.

The 7 eleven's are a farang's 1st thai home when he finds his away around the out backs of Thailand by themselve for the 1st time. So there may be teething problems like drunk Russians trying to talk English but it is at least making an attempt to allowing English speaking falang to make contact with an English speaking police link when you need most to be to have some one understand you.

Hi guys do somebody thought yet we are living in Thailand and we shd speak Thai instead to complain Thai people can not speak English?

Clearly English is not your first language, but i did not know that tourists should speak or learn Thai and not other way around

But we have to learn and speak english as Tourists in London Convenience stores ?

Considering that English is an international language and is language that is spoken by at least 8 countries-yeah YOU SHOULD

http://en.wikipedia....ative_speakers.

I speak french, english, german, mandarin. And you ?

[thequick7]

they will put up a big sign in the store reading "Tourist Police 1155" and the in-depth training they will receive will involve pointing at the sign and saying "Dto-lis Poor-lice".

[wlcart]

Does anyone know, can 7-11 help tourist between 2-5pm and after midnight?

[Beetlejuice]

Travel insurance companies will love this:

"Do you have a police report?"

"No, but I have a receipt from 7-Eleven."

"Well you're not getting your claim paid."

Brilliant, this just about throws the whole scheme out of the window.

Edited November 5, 2010 by Beetlejuice

[dogleg]

We have been to a few 7-11's on our last trip to bangkok and the people behind the counter new some english or got one of the other workers that spoke english.

To me this is a step in the right direction.Any help is better than none,

Finally, an intelligent "comment." - Thanks!

Yes, A load of over-reaction on this! We get a free phone call via some one who can tell the police at least where we are. What's the problem with that?

[rametindallas]

since this is all about 7-11, just like to mention that today I bought some necessities from the new 7-11 in Pttaya North, soi3.

I had to pay 200 baht and payed with a 1000 baht bill. The guy gave me the change up to 500 Baht (which I didn't realize), then went to a safe to get a 500 baht note, whilst I left the store.

seconds later the guy run after me in the street when I was walking towards my hotel and screamed "Mister". I stopped and he gave me the 500 baht!

thaisabai

I have had similar good experiences with 7-11 and other Thais.

This program has just started and it is much easier to find a 7-11 than a tourist police. This could not be worse than the status quo.

[dude007]

Well... most 7-11's seem to have an abundance of staff, so maybe this could work.

TheWalkingMan

How you think this will work: they even cannot speak decent English in most of these convenient rip-off stores! How will the reporting be towards the police from their 7-11 store as they do not even understand what the reported problem will be? There is actually farang police in Pattaya and Phuket (although I haven't heard so much good stories about the farang high-nosed tourist police in Pattaya) that should better be involved in these things through a decent training. Will be better than parading in their beautiful uniforms between the tourist girls. And by involvement I do not mean in the action itself but as intermediate unbiaised persons between the "reported" culprits and the police. 7-11 is a silly idea... will never work!

[rametindallas]

+

1. As someone already mentioned staff at 7-11 hardly speak any English

2. So a victim is to walk around from 7-11 to 7-11 trying to find which one can help?

3. Whats the kickback to 7-11?

4. What would be a response time? 24 hours?

5. What about Family Marts? why not involve them and also may be the tailors, since there is one on every corner.

Now they say staff have undergone special training, what training was that? Police does not have any training, so what did they teach the 7-11 staff? How about having the "great little helpers" the farang volunteers stay at those 7-11, since there is no shortage of them trying to get in.

I dont know what you're all b*tching about, they offer to HELP police, not take over their duties. they hire pretty good people and screen thoroughly. if you cant find police, 7 11 is a good place to check.

why all the unecessary and untrue negative remarks? Why so many complaints? why not just go back to your homeland then?

+1

-7 and then another 11 and you be close

Wow! Aren't you the 'nattering nabob of negativity' today.

[kuffki]

We have been to a few 7-11's on our last trip to bangkok and the people behind the counter new some english or got one of the other workers that spoke english.

To me this is a step in the right direction.Any help is better than none,

Finally, an intelligent "comment." - Thanks!

Yes, A load of over-reaction on this! We get a free phone call via some one who can tell the police at least where we are. What's the problem with that?

Number 1 who told you you will get a free phone call and will not be charged?

Number 2, who told you they will actually make the call?

Number 3, who told you that police will actually come out and if they do in what time frame?

Number 4, who told you they will understand what you actually want?

Number 5, who told you they will even listen?

Number 6, Has anyone told you which stores offer the service and how to identify them?

Number 7, has anyone told you how this would be explained to tourists "off the boat"

Number 8, Has anyone told you in how many languages would this be promoted and how would for example Russian or Japanese or Korean who does not speak any English learn about this?

As many people already have said but clearly it still has not registered for some, this is nothing but PR, and a useless one for that matter.

Because in none of this useless exercise there is any reference to which stores, how to identify them and where it is promoted.

Furthermore as i have early posted, a friend of mine got a sticker on his shop front which said "Tourist safe house" BUT

Not only it was all written in Thai-which is totally useless to a tourist but also the owner of the shop(my friend) was never spoken or consulted on the matter. So if by some crazy miracle some tourist happens to be in the area and is in trouble and can read and understand Thai and he was to run in to ask for help, he will be kicked out told to go away.

So please explain to me how this is a good idea and will be very useful to a tourist, keeping in mind that expat will have more brain not to use 7-11

Edited November 5, 2010 by kuffki

[kuffki]

Wow! Aren't you the 'nattering nabob of negativity' today.

I believe its called being realistic not living in a fantasy dream world

PS. Do you actually know the meaning of word nabob?

Edited November 5, 2010 by kuffki

[dude007]

Thank you Thailand for bringing a smile to my face. Today has been a tough day in the office, i can always count on thaivisa at the expense of the thai police to cheer me. funny story! i feel so much safer now....

BTW when i get pulled over by some traffic cops doing an illegal road stop.... do i also report that to 7-11or should i report that to the post office... tesco.... 55555 ....i love this country!!!!

As usual all the negative people fall out to judge, complain, and make fun of anything that the Thailand tried to do. Probably many who are spouting off do not even live here, OR just want to be heard by anybody. Sad.

You shouldn't be so harsh in your comments. Everybody has an opinion that is free to be voiced. Whether it is positive or negative, this has nothing to do with the fact whether we like Thailand or not. Negative critic can also be constructive, at least if you are positive enough to understand!

[zorro1]

its silly. if I walked into a 7/11 with a knife sticking in my back they would still all look at each other confused.

What happens if the cops turn up and the fridge door is unlocked during alcohol banned times?

[Roadman]

its silly. if I walked into a 7/11 with a knife sticking in my back they would still all look at each other confused.

What happens if the cops turn up and the fridge door is unlocked during alcohol banned times?

I would be confused to cause just like Superman, Zorro is way to good to get a knife in the back.

I don't know! The cops have a beer while waiting for the meat wagon to come and collect you?

Of course it is a silly idea.

And there is not silly idea's in the world that have worked?

As usual there are more that find all the reasons why things don't work rather than looking at where they might work no matter how stupid looking that look at first glance. Always are of the opinion that those with the stupid ideas are worth listening to more than those that open with their negativity. It is of no suprise that Thailand contains both and they are distintive by race.

Edited November 5, 2010 by Roadman

[saintofsilence]

All victims will be offered a free slurpee if they have to wait any longer that 20 minutes to report the crime .

[Sailfish1]

Why are all of you people complaining about the 7-11s and this new arrangement?? It has to help - After all, there are 7-11s everywhere. It is harder to find a policeman!!

[jayjay0]

1. As someone already mentioned staff at 7-11 hardly speak any English

2. So a victim is to walk around from 7-11 to 7-11 trying to find which one can help?

3. Whats the kickback to 7-11?

4. What would be a response time? 24 hours?

5. What about Family Marts? why not involve them and also may be the tailors, since there is one on every corner.

Now they say staff have undergone special training, what training was that? Police does not have any training, so what did they teach the 7-11 staff? How about having the "great little helpers" the farang volunteers stay at those 7-11, since there is no shortage of them trying to get in.

I dont know what you're all b*tching about, they offer to HELP police, not take over their duties. they hire pretty good people and screen thoroughly. if you cant find police, 7 11 is a good place to check.

why all the unecessary and untrue negative remarks? Why so many complaints? why not just go back to your homeland then?

The answer is simple they are losers in there own life and feel the only way to be important is to putt other people down. You come up with a good idea and they say it won't work most of them don't know a lot to begin with. They know some one or it happened to them once so they put the whole institution down. There is absolutely no good in it.

So what if the staff dosen't speak English part of there training is to recognize the need and make the call. Have you ever noticed these wanna be some body's never come up with a sensible alternative. If they were to do that they might be some body and down deep that is not what they want. Not sorry to have offended.

[jayjay0]

1. As someone already mentioned staff at 7-11 hardly speak any English

2. So a victim is to walk around from 7-11 to 7-11 trying to find which one can help?

3. Whats the kickback to 7-11?

4. What would be a response time? 24 hours?

5. What about Family Marts? why not involve them and also may be the tailors, since there is one on every corner.

Now they say staff have undergone special training, what training was that? Police does not have any training, so what did they teach the 7-11 staff? How about having the "great little helpers" the farang volunteers stay at those 7-11, since there is no shortage of them trying to get in.

I don't know what you're all b*tching about, they offer to HELP police, not take over their duties. they hire pretty good people and screen thoroughly. if you cant find police, 7 11 is a good place to check.

why all the unnecessary and untrue negative remarks? Why so many complaints? why not just go back to your homeland then?

Well, go back to your homeland..... seems to be the dud kind of answer anyone can post when they want to defend Thailand...... Geez, how to argue with that?

What are you talking about? B*tching, if that's what you call it...... isn't it criticizing? Yes, it does have a purpose. If you don't know the weaknesses, how can you forestall them or know what best action to take???

1) It's not a preventative strategy, just a reporting strategy that is only intended to divert attention, and create a good PR image for the police who have suffered in the press continually and have little esteem according to foreigners internationally - I'm generally afraid to go to them - I'd rather tell someone else l - they'll only extort money anyhow

2) It takes the responsibility from the police, only something they could be happy about on their low wages and taking up tea money time

3) staff won't be trained to speak the multitude of languages of foreign customers who visit Thailand and are victim to unnecessary crimes that the police don't prevent while they are underpaid and looking for other ways to boost their income.... pawn the problem of incompetence in language communication off to the low-class seven eleven staff for 23 baht per hour

4) What could a seven eleven staff member do? End up calling the police because an irate foreign customer is going berserk in another language in seven eleven as he's just been assaulted and a Thai certainly won't know what to do in that situation very easily

5) If no-one coming into Thailand knows about it because it is not publicized with a remedy for action, then it is useless; however, if widely publicized and standard practice in the future, it does look impressive to the mobs of tourists who aren't yet aware of the facade behind Thai politics and motive that always leads nowhere

6) Now that I've criticized it, I know it's weaknesses can only be greater than its strengths. I have learned not to believe this 'one day he said' kind of stuff that's published for PR and puts smiles on fat cats faces while they can keep ignoring the real problems like reducing real crime - that is, actions that harm others and so forth

Criticizing is one thing not knowing what you are talking about is another thing. As far as criticizing it goes if you had read the posts this far you would know that the job has been done. Ergo you grab a chance to further your lack of knowledge and hopefully spread your brand of bigotry.

How does it make the police look good when the Tourists are told to go to a 7 11? And the really big one is they will be trained in all likely hood to see when some one wants the police and call them. Not for what ever your flights of fancy think. Put the other oar in the water please.

[jayjay0]

Wow! Aren't you the 'nattering nabob of negativity' today.

I believe its called being realistic not living in a fantasy dream world

PS. Do you actually know the meaning of word nabob?

Negativity is his native language. Did you notice in one post all he could do was ask who told you this and then his negative comment. Never once volunteering the information of who told him it was not going to work.

I for the life of me can not understand why such a obviously gifted and intelligent individual would choose to live in a country he can not say one good thing about.

Edited November 5, 2010 by jayjay0

[astral]

Do the staff speak English????????????

[jboras]

<IMG class=bbc_emoticon alt= src="http://static.thaivisa.com/forum/public/style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif"> Good one! 7-11 staff are probably better trained... in English! They should expand it to McDonalds, KFC... and so on... hahahahahahahahaha......ha!<BR>Only in Thailand! Amazing!

[jackr]

I hate 711's when you go in 1 poor bast*rd is doing all the work while 5 of them are picking their noses and sending text messages - idiots

Never seen that. Have often seen one serving and others working.

Everybody has an opinion that is free to be voiced.

I don't think people should have one going by some of the rubbish on here.

And you, my friend; how about you &lt;deleted&gt;. Nobody's impressed.

--

Echoing someone else, the negativity is really boring and is dragging this site down. How about just not saying anything rather than spouting laboured tripe for the sake of it? Anything to help tourists is a step in the right direction. In this case, there would clearly be people clued up enough to recognise a tourist in distress and to be able to call the tourist police. Few tourists would even know the TP exist!

[koto]

1. As someone already mentioned staff at 7-11 hardly speak any English

2. So a victim is to walk around from 7-11 to 7-11 trying to find which one can help?

3. Whats the kickback to 7-11?

4. What would be a response time? 24 hours?

5. What about Family Marts? why not involve them and also may be the tailors, since there is one on every corner.

Now they say staff have undergone special training, what training was that? Police does not have any training, so what did they teach the 7-11 staff? How about having the "great little helpers" the farang volunteers stay at those 7-11, since there is no shortage of them trying to get in.

I dont know what you're all b*tching about, they offer to HELP police, not take over their duties. they hire pretty good people and screen thoroughly. if you cant find police, 7 11 is a good place to check.

why all the unecessary and untrue negative remarks? Why so many complaints? why not just go back to your homeland then?

So true, a bunch of baby's bitching about one thing or another, I left my country to get away from these inconsiderate types of people and to many of them ended up here, I hope their young lady's or boyfriends, drop their complaining over weight asses and give them something else to bitch about and then they might put their immature tail between their legs and run back to where they most likely were complaining before, no matter what, we bring ourselves with us, some grow up, have respect for self and others and way to many don't, and you can see that here and now.

[craigt3365]

Basically this is a good idea.

7/11 staff do know the word for police.

There are not many tourist police stations, so 7/11 should have the

number for the nearest one and get an English speaker or some equivalent

to show up from there.

I do not think there are any tourist police stations, there is only 1.

As per OP staff will be calling the general number not the station number.

Being tourist police, one would expect that all tourist police speak English.

As for understanding "police help, police help" for starters i would not be so sure it will be understood(it always takes 3 go's IN THAI to buy 500 baht phone card, and while my Thai may not be the best, but speaking in Thai and showing 5 fingers and hearing words like DTAC, i would of thought would be enough to get the idea, but sadly it is not and i always need to repeat myself and show my fingers minimum 3 times) So to understand "police help" may be little harder then you imagine.

Not to mention if someone was in such a need, last thing on their mind would be to run to nearest 7-11 in hope its the one that offers help.

And lastly while it might in some freakish way be a great idea, but usually all the crime against tourists d'not occur in tourist heavily populated areas.

yeah my Thai does not even compare to yours, because you would be almost fluent and get all the tones correct.

now we have the provide evidence crew in town, well how about common sense and some logic?!!!!! How would crimes against tourist be committed in the areas where there are no tourists???? Do you hear of any crimes being committed against a tourist in the remote village of Surin? i have not! This fascinating fact may have something to do with the fact that tourists do not go to remote village of Surin!!! DOHHHH

Now from my post, in which part of usually did you struggle with?would like me to write it in Thai for you???? perhaps then you will have less problems with it!

My apology i did not finish this post, lost connection.

So to continue, it would be almost impossible to mention beyond retarded to commit some crime against a foreign tourist when you are surrounded by mainly foreign tourists.-thats just logic. Did you want evidence for simple logic?and once again the operative word i used was USUALLY.

and perfect example would be Kaorsan Rd, you hear of many crimes there?-i have not

You hear of any crimes in Nana?(besides of course ladyboys robbing)-i have not

MBK?, Central in Pattaya? or Central in BKK?

animatic is right on. Doing this at 7/11 is worth a try. Good for them for trying this out. The rest of you, give it a rest! I visit 7/11 all the time and they are usually working and serving customers. I've never seen them standing around picking their nose. Never. But I've only been around Thailand for 8 years...so maybe I'm missing something.

Jeez...you have to be kidding. Crimes happen on Khao San Road all the time. Read Lonely Plant's Thorntree sometime. There is a new thread about a credit card scam going on right now. Unfortunately, many of the crimes there are committed by tourists against tourists.

How about the Russian guy who died recently in Pattaya right on walking street? Got into a fight with some locals and ended up dead. How about the weekly snatching of gold on Beach Road? Or the pickpockets that happen on a daily basis in this area. Probably won't happen in the major malls (though a Russian got arrested last week for stealing and a Japanese guy got arrested for filming up girls dresses at Central). How about the rapes on Samui, Phuket? The shooting in Mae Hong Son? Or the shooting in Kanchanaburi?

Crimes against tourists happen where they congregate. Which is major tourist areas. Like Pattaya. Follow the news a little more closely and you will see all the crimes against tourists that occur here.

Again, congrats for the mayor trying to do something right. How about supporting him rather than slagging him off? He may not be perfect, but he is trying to do some good things here in Pattaya. They may not all work out, but at least he is trying. Like the pedestrian walkways on Beach Road. The roping off for an area to swim at night (not that I'd want to swim in there). The curfew for jet skis at night (to reduce the fatalities). The lights on the beach for safety. The volunteer police force. And of course, all the festivals he has been promoting lately. Good stuff!!!!!

[pattayabuggy]

Great idea!  At least you can have a beer while getting things sorted out!  

But seriously, it's not a bad idea.  If you are a tourist here for a short stay, you won't have a cell phone, probably don't even know about the tourist police much less where they are.  And most police don't speak English.  At least you can head into 7/11 and have them make a call for you.  It will be interesting to see how this works out.  

Hey, at least they are trying...

And yes, they do work at night.  My friend got stopped in Bangkok a few weeks ago and didn't pass the sobriety test.  Luckily, being a Thai hi-so, they let him park his car and come back and get it the next day rather than towing it...but he did have to pay the fine....obviously.

It drives me nuts when someone comes along and says;  "Hey, at least their trying".  no, they are not trying, they don't care about anything but money.  Here's how to stop some of this.  stop paying the policeman the fine.. tell him you will go to the court to pay the fine.. 8 out of 10 times, they won't even write you a ticket.  

Correct, I in fact try to avoid using the misleading term "police" they are not police, "uniformed mafia" is much nearer the truth. Sadly Thailand does not have a police force. To have a civilized country, law and order is a first necessity. We have virtual anarchy I am afraid. Laughter is good medicine, most the time I only view the uniformed mafia with distate and some fear, but at least now I can laugh at them with this ludicrous proposal.