Search Warrent For Police?

[stacker10]

I wonder if any one here knows the rules in Thailand for search warrent? Do the police need to show a written warrent from

a court or similar to enter my property?Of course they can enter if there is fighting or noice but i mean come knockin on my door at night and demand to search my house and my pc?for any thing they want exempel viagra, copy dvds or what ever?or do they like most normal civilised country need papper works?and if they do enter with out, can you win?if they find something?who doesnt have a bad dvd movie or similare?And no,not happend to me.yet. But i like to know what to do if it happens.

[prefabs]

Depending on severity of your crime or misdemeanour, you take out your wallet and start negotiating. Price will be much higher if it was actually you that did it. 2 examples

Driving with no lights, 1000 baht tea money

Driving with no lights when it is dark, 2000 baht tea money

[Soutpeel]

I would have thought that the fact that they have guns and are prepared to use them generally foregoes the requirement for a stupid piece of paper such as a search warrant.....your not in Kansas anymore toto, I would worry too much about what rights you have....

[Richard4849]

A Court-issued warrant is required for police to enter all private premises, unless there is a crime taking place in plain view.

[lovetotravel]

A Court-issued warrant is required for police to enter all private premises, unless there is a crime taking place in plain view.

There's a big difference here between the law and how it's practiced. As mentioned above, keep some cash on hand just in case.

[Pushit]

To search property legally they must have and produce a warrant which you are required to sign when the search is complete.

[Soutpeel]

A Court-issued warrant is required for police to enter all private premises, unless there is a crime taking place in plain view.

This would be the proper legal way to do things.....but when did the BiB start following the requirements of the law ?.....

[sharecropper]

Does anyone remember a case a few years back in Pattaya where some moron (I can't recall but I think it was a foreigner, but maybe a Thai), was drunk and making a noise in a condo block, with a gun. When the police were called, he holed himself up in his room, with the police outside, and they were unable to enter to search his room without a warrant, so after a few hours a negotiated outcome was secured; the guy's room wasn't searched and he was arrested for some stupid lesser charge instead.

I will see if I can find it somewhere.

PS - EDIT - No I can't. It was reported locally though.

Edited July 29, 2011 by sharecropper

[Pushit]

A Court-issued warrant is required for police to enter all private premises, unless there is a crime taking place in plain view.

This would be the proper legal way to do things.....but when did the BiB start following the requirements of the law ?.....

Happened to me, they came knocked on my door, showed a court issued warrant tossed the place and found nothing. Said thank you and would I sign the back of the warrant, apologized and left.

[Richard4849]

A Court-issued warrant is required for police to enter all private premises, unless there is a crime taking place in plain view.

This would be the proper legal way to do things.....but when did the BiB start following the requirements of the law ?.....

When making searches they do...unless they think you're a rube who doesn't know the law. Now you do.

[Travel2003]

Here is an unusual one.

What if one tries to "offer a gift" to a Police man whom happens to be clean?

[Richard4849]

You could be done for attempted bribery.

[Travel2003]

You could be done for attempted bribery.

That would be standard procedures.

Surely there are decent Police Officers as well here, so i guess there is just a matter of time before they are tried bribed then.

back to topic.

[dean999]

Depending on severity of your crime or misdemeanour, you take out your wallet and start negotiating. Price will be much higher if it was actually you that did it. 2 examples

Driving with no lights, 1000 baht tea money

Driving with no lights when it is dark, 2000 baht tea money

Thank you. Cheered my day up that has. Needed a laugh.

[gregb]

A Court-issued warrant is required for police to enter all private premises, unless there is a crime taking place in plain view.

This would be the proper legal way to do things.....but when did the BiB start following the requirements of the law ?.....

They have always done this in my experience. As a completely hypothetical story...back in the old days when international calls to Thailand were still very expensive and people used to run gray termination via VSAT and phone lines, it was quite normal to make sure to locate the equipment spread out over 2 or 3 condos in the same building.

The police would arrive with a warrant for the common areas where the satellite was and maybe one of the units where they could trace the wires, but they would quickly find wires running to other privately owned units in the building from that location. They would then need to go get additional warrants to open each of those units. That usually took a couple of hours. Meanwhile, the equipment owner would disassemble the equipment and hide it. You did need to keep someone permanently in those other units to make this work, as the police would block the door and stop anyone from entering or anyone exiting with bags. But luckily police rarely check behind the meat in the freezer when searching for unlicensed telephone equipment. Hidden compartments in the sofa make great storage places also. At one point, someone who shall remain nameless was considering building an entire line of VoIP furniture. You'd have to keep old, broken sacrificial equipment for them to find out in plain sight of course.

Telecom costs are so cheap today that none of this is cost effective any more, and stories like this are relegated to history, but this "hypothetical" story does illustrate that the police have always used proper search warrants when entering private residences. The police are actually quite law abiding in many areas.

[dundee48]

A Court-issued warrant is required for police to enter all private premises, unless there is a crime taking place in plain view.

Warrant? I dont need no stinkin warrant.

[jdinasia]

You could be done for attempted bribery.

That would be standard procedures.

Surely there are decent Police Officers as well here, so i guess there is just a matter of time before they are tried bribed then.

back to topic.

There is a report today (pattaya forum I think) of someone with multiple charges including attempted bribery.

and here's the link ...

Edited July 29, 2011 by jdinasia

[rocketmanbkk]

seems to me that the OP has something to hide and is trying to find out what he thinks his rights are before the BIB come a knocking!

If you have reason to ask about search warrants etc. you must be up to something as IMO a normal law abiding citizen wouldn't really think about being raided by the police as they would be thinking about other things unlinked to criminality like what to have for dinner, what do do tomorrow but will I get raided and if so what are my rights? Come on....

Stinks if you ask me. If you are up to no good, stop now and hope you got away with it or face the consequences.

Another dumb farang!

[manarak]

seems to me that the OP has something to hide and is trying to find out what he thinks his rights are before the BIB come a knocking!

If you have reason to ask about search warrants etc. you must be up to something as IMO a normal law abiding citizen wouldn't really think about being raided by the police as they would be thinking about other things unlinked to criminality like what to have for dinner, what do do tomorrow but will I get raided and if so what are my rights? Come on....

Stinks if you ask me. If you are up to no good, stop now and hope you got away with it or face the consequences.

Another dumb farang!

nemo censetur ignorare legem

Inquiries about proper procedures are perfectly acceptable, especially in a country where you don't know in what sort of trouble even a minor offense like copied DVDs or CDs can get you.

There also might be the occasional "visitor" in the apartment carrying drugs with him.

Or one might work on the internet, and the evidence of this work would be on the computer.

I think none of the three scenarios above is serious enough for wishing that someone gets caught on these motives.

Having cash on hand will protect from a "routine checks" where the officers have no privileged information, but cash won't stop officers that were sent to specifically "get you".

In this scenario, it seems much safer to let them find all the illegal things you could possibly have while they have no legal search warrant.

[NancyL]

I don't think it's out-of-line to ask about this. It's one of the founding principals for Americans and it's good to know if it's practiced elsewhere.

Hubby is very law-abiding; never had a speeding ticket or an overdue library book. Yet, when the state police came to our farm in the U.S. to ask about the former residents, I was very surprised with his response. They specifically asked if they could come into our home "to talk". He said -- we have enough chairs in our barn and my wife can bring you some ice water.

Later he said, "you never let law enforcement into your home without a search warrant, even if you think you have nothing to hide. That's why our ancestors fought the revolution.".

Somehow I don't think those rules apply here.

Edited July 29, 2011 by NancyL

[Soutpeel]

Later he said, "you never let law enforcement into your home without a search warrant, even if you think you have nothing to hide. That's why our ancestors fought the revolution.".

so thats what started that.....the British never had a search warrant !!!.....

[garrfeild]

wondering what it is the OP is doing to warrant such a question, pun intended.

[PoorSucker]

Depending on severity of your crime or misdemeanour, you take out your wallet and start negotiating. Price will be much higher if it was actually you that did it. 2 examples

Driving with no lights, 1000 baht tea money

Driving with no lights when it is dark, 2000 baht tea money

Driving with lights on during day, 500 baht, real fine with receipt (cars).

Edited July 30, 2011 by PoorSucker

[MTH]

Depending on severity of your crime or misdemeanour, you take out your wallet and start negotiating. Price will be much higher if it was actually you that did it. 2 examples

Driving with no lights, 1000 baht tea money

Driving with no lights when it is dark, 2000 baht tea money

Driving with lights on during day, 500 baht, real fine with receipt (cars).

Wow, so you have actually received a fine, for driving a car with lights on during the day?

I wish they would pass a law that they should always be on. Makes it so much easier to spot traffic, especially at dawn/dusk and in heavy rain.

If it's raining heavy, I always turn on the lights. Have seen some other sensible drivers doing the same, but far from everyone. Would really piss me off, if stopped and fined for that

[mojaco]

Wow, so you have actually received a fine, for driving a car with lights on during the day?

I wish they would pass a law that they should always be on. Makes it so much easier to spot traffic, especially at dawn/dusk and in heavy rain.

If it's raining heavy, I always turn on the lights. Have seen some other sensible drivers doing the same, but far from everyone. Would really piss me off, if stopped and fined for that

I didn't know this. I always turn my lights on during the day if raining, smoky, foggy, lots of oncoming motorcycles and the like. Strange, they new motorcycles don't have an "off" switch I understand. Someone must be aware lights on vehicles help even during the day?

[mojaco]

Wow, so you have actually received a fine, for driving a car with lights on during the day?

I wish they would pass a law that they should always be on. Makes it so much easier to spot traffic, especially at dawn/dusk and in heavy rain.

If it's raining heavy, I always turn on the lights. Have seen some other sensible drivers doing the same, but far from everyone. Would really piss me off, if stopped and fined for that

I didn't know this. I always turn my lights on during the day if raining, smoky, foggy, lots of oncoming motorcycles and the like. Strange, the new motorcycles don't have an "off" switch I understand. Someone (in the Thai government) must be aware lights on vehicles help even during the day?

[scottishjohn]

Later he said, "you never let law enforcement into your home without a search warrant, even if you think you have nothing to hide. That's why our ancestors fought the revolution.".

so thats what started that.....the British never had a search warrant !!!.....

We didn't need one THEN

Edited July 30, 2011 by scottishjohn

[MTH]

Wow, so you have actually received a fine, for driving a car with lights on during the day?

I wish they would pass a law that they should always be on. Makes it so much easier to spot traffic, especially at dawn/dusk and in heavy rain.

If it's raining heavy, I always turn on the lights. Have seen some other sensible drivers doing the same, but far from everyone. Would really piss me off, if stopped and fined for that

I didn't know this. I always turn my lights on during the day if raining, smoky, foggy, lots of oncoming motorcycles and the like. Strange, the new motorcycles don't have an "off" switch I understand. Someone (in the Thai government) must be aware lights on vehicles help even during the day?

On motorcycles it's been the law for a few years now, that you always have to have running lights on.

I was surprised, that PoorSucker got tickeded for driving a car with running lights in the daytime.

[unamazedloso]

This is a real old post but i wanted to google some info and share some because my house was searched yesterday looking for guns and drugs. Absolutely absurdity because i haven't touched a drug in 30yrs and guns i probably should have for peronal safety but dont.

Aparantley warrants have to be issued by a court and an intial investigative process is taken out quietly in the lead up to the issuing of a warrant. This is a troubling thought because they obviously interviewed our racist jealous neighbours that dont know us and never even spoken.

The people that do the searching are court appointed and cant be associated with whoever is being searched or the investigators.

In my case im furious because it is obviously neighbours that have done this but without any evidence of the fact and how the hell could an investigation show up anything in the first place.

My neighbours have filed police reports about guns in the past but the only thing ever even sounds like a gun thats been used on my property is my family has thrown firecrackers back at people throwing them at us. 

I honestly expect the police to come back again because the true motivation here is my family dobbed in illegal land grabbing by local officials here.

In Thailand there is no real law and it only protects officials anyway by way of laziness and ignorance.

I hate Thailand!

[robblok]

1 hour ago, unamazedloso said:

This is a real old post but i wanted to google some info and share some because my house was searched yesterday looking for guns and drugs. Absolutely absurdity because i haven't touched a drug in 30yrs and guns i probably should have for peronal safety but dont.

Aparantley warrants have to be issued by a court and an intial investigative process is taken out quietly in the lead up to the issuing of a warrant. This is a troubling thought because they obviously interviewed our racist jealous neighbours that dont know us and never even spoken.

The people that do the searching are court appointed and cant be associated with whoever is being searched or the investigators.

In my case im furious because it is obviously neighbours that have done this but without any evidence of the fact and how the hell could an investigation show up anything in the first place.

My neighbours have filed police reports about guns in the past but the only thing ever even sounds like a gun thats been used on my property is my family has thrown firecrackers back at people throwing them at us. 

I honestly expect the police to come back again because the true motivation here is my family dobbed in illegal land grabbing by local officials here.

In Thailand there is no real law and it only protects officials anyway by way of laziness and ignorance.

I hate Thailand!

If you hate Thailand why dont you leave ? I mean I would not stay somewhere that i hated. 

 

But if they did not find anything then what is the problem. They are free to search my home nothing will be found. Its a bit annoying but that is about it.