some of these guys have problems

LOL. IMO any person who wants to become a Tourist Police Volunteer in Pattaya has a problem. Maybe they like to play pretend cop because they couldn't make the police force in their home countries.

there are few exceptions. I know of one who has spent his life in a uniform, both as enlisted and officer and who joined to genuinely help, i know of others who are complete tossers, and a few in between.

the concept is a good one. the problem is when you bring personalities into the equation you do end up with the wannabees, but thats NOT the case for all of them.

My mate Colin can, once he works out how to open the handcuffs.

It's a strange situation where the Thai Police allow this practice of foreign volunteers.

Unfortunately there is such a high percentage of criminality amongst such a small group compared to general tourists/expat population, some would include The armed heroin dealer, The Ladyboy peppersprayer and the nutter with his home made own police car..

They probably serve a good purpose though in general, and the Howard Miller guy was a good example of this but you have to think what attracts these guys to the role..

If they were made to were bright yellow t-shirts with a smiley face with "How can I help" written on them then there simply wouldn't be any takers for the role.

I would have stood my ground had any tried to move me, explained that I speak fluent Thai and they are simply not needed perhaps with an expletive added for good measure.