Ferries Packed - Police Photographing Tourists!

robsamui · December 30, 2011

Just came back from a border bounce and was interested to see that the police (Immigration?) were taking photos of farangs getting on the ferry. Not the Thais - only 'aliens'. And not the vehicles coming on either.

My conclusion is that as they weren't interested in people actually living/working here (ie with vehicles) then the only purpose could be to make a total of how many farangs are visiting? (Counting tickets isn't accurate as many of these represent Thai people.)(And counting heads . . . 1 ... 2 ... 3 ... erm . . . is possibly unreliable . . . )

The ferry was jam packed - standing room only (well lolling flat out on the deck anyway. . .)

Wonder if they're doing something similar with the influx at the airport? Anyone know?

R

BookMan · December 30, 2011

Hope they got your good side!

itishothere · December 30, 2011

Maybe they are expecting fun and games tomorrow night and are taking pictures now of who the likely candidates are might be.

samuijimmy · December 30, 2011

Perhaps they will put everyone's photo on a plate and sell it when people leave? Just like the boat tour companies do ... are they saying "Cheese" ?...

Thought there was video cams on all the ferries and the terminals....? I'd be surprised if non at the airport .... suppose not the same same as individual pics though

It's getting as bad as London... eh what!

Boater · December 30, 2011

they are trying to lure out the overstayers and known crimanals, as they are much more likly to catch a ferry then take a flight !,

they know who they are, as they have there picture on arrival to Thailand, so with facial recognition software, they will upload the pictures and cross referance with the arrivals database to see who is on overstay or know/wanted crimanal....

robsamui · December 30, 2011

they are trying to lure out the overstayers and known crimanals, as they are much more likly to catch a ferry then take a flight !,

they know who they are, as they have there picture on arrival to Thailand, so with facial recognition software, they will upload the pictures and cross referance with the arrivals database to see who is on overstay or know/wanted crimanal....

gulp

erm . . . hang on a mo . . .

are we talking abut the same bunch that has to wait for the BKK guys to get here cos they have no way locally of talking and storing/using fingerprints?

The same fellas who don't have speed traps or equipment?

The ones who need to buy their own guns/ammo and motorbikes?

The chaps who are not even networked between their own local police stations, never mind being networked to/with the mainland?

Ah. Right. Now the ... "facial recognition software, they will upload the pictures and cross referance with the arrivals database to see who is on overstay or know/wanted crimanal...." thing makes more sense . . .

R

Edited December 30, 2011 by robsamui

BigC · January 1, 2012

they are trying to lure out the overstayers and known crimanals, as they are much more likly to catch a ferry then take a flight !,

they know who they are, as they have there picture on arrival to Thailand, so with facial recognition software, they will upload the pictures and cross referance with the arrivals database to see who is on overstay or know/wanted crimanal....

they are trying to lure out the overstayers and known crimanals, as they are much more likly to catch a ferry then take a flight !,

they know who they are, as they have there picture on arrival to Thailand, so with facial recognition software, they will upload the pictures and cross referance with the arrivals database to see who is on overstay or know/wanted crimanal....

gulp

erm . . . hang on a mo . . .

are we talking abut the same bunch that has to wait for the BKK guys to get here cos they have no way locally of talking and storing/using fingerprints?

The same fellas who don't have speed traps or equipment?

The ones who need to buy their own guns/ammo and motorbikes?

The chaps who are not even networked between their own local police stations, never mind being networked to/with the mainland?

Ah. Right. Now the ... "facial recognition software, they will upload the pictures and cross referance with the arrivals database to see who is on overstay or know/wanted crimanal...." thing makes more sense . . .

R

i think they were taking pictures to make sure the boats were not over loaded. there was a problem at one of the piers with poeple trying to jump on boats that were very over loaded

maybe they were watching the boat companies

Edited January 1, 2012 by BigC

lazygourmet · January 2, 2012

they are trying to lure out the overstayers and known crimanals, as they are much more likly to catch a ferry then take a flight !,

they know who they are, as they have there picture on arrival to Thailand, so with facial recognition software, they will upload the pictures and cross referance with the arrivals database to see who is on overstay or know/wanted crimanal....

Dream on...

Not so long ago Tm.6 arrival cards were still archived on microfiche.

Trapper · January 2, 2012

they are trying to lure out the overstayers and known crimanals, as they are much more likly to catch a ferry then take a flight !,

they know who they are, as they have there picture on arrival to Thailand, so with facial recognition software, they will upload the pictures and cross referance with the arrivals database to see who is on overstay or know/wanted crimanal....

That's brilliant! The funnest thing I have read this year!

robsamui · January 2, 2012

they are trying to lure out the overstayers and known crimanals, as they are much more likly to catch a ferry then take a flight !,

they know who they are, as they have there picture on arrival to Thailand, so with facial recognition software, they will upload the pictures and cross referance with the arrivals database to see who is on overstay or know/wanted crimanal....

Dream on...

Not so long ago Tm.6 arrival cards were still archived on microfiche.

Microfiche? They get folded into bundles of 50, wrapped with an elastic band and put into cardboard boxes with the date handwritten on the front!

insertmembernamehere · January 2, 2012

Seriously, what could be the purpose of this? Even First World countries would not routinely put the manpower into this sort of operation unless there was a specific target, and a high-value one at that. And they would have the technology and skill to actually make some use out of hundreds if not thousands of photos.

Sniffer dogs, photographing people....maybe they watched some cop movie and got some wild hair up their behinds....

samuijimmy · January 3, 2012

Admittedly this is a strange way of doing this....

But I don't think there is any Airport, Ferry Terminal, bus or train station or large public venue anywhere in the world, nowadays, that is not recording on CCTV camera, who's coming or going.... ( They are even at Tesco and Big C, and most likely Makro).

Perhaps they knew someone might be traveling on this ferry and wanted to be able to nab them at the other end? ...

No one seems to have said whether this is happening on all ferries ... so perhaps this was just a one off?

Say "Cheese" !

robsamui · January 4, 2012

Seriously, what could be the purpose of this? Even First World countries would not routinely put the manpower into this sort of operation unless there was a specific target, and a high-value one at that. And they would have the technology and skill to actually make some use out of hundreds if not thousands of photos.

Sniffer dogs, photographing people....maybe they watched some cop movie and got some wild hair up their behinds....

Ahem. First World countries most certainly would not. But this is a country where labour charges are nix . . .

R

Edited January 4, 2012 by Rooo
Fixed double quotes.

robsamui · January 4, 2012

Admittedly this is a strange way of doing this....

But I don't think there is any Airport, Ferry Terminal, bus or train station or large public venue anywhere in the world, nowadays, that is not recording on CCTV camera, who's coming or going.... ( They are even at Tesco and Big C, and most likely Makro).

Perhaps they knew someone might be traveling on this ferry and wanted to be able to nab them at the other end? ...

No one seems to have said whether this is happening on all ferries ... so perhaps this was just a one off?

Say "Cheese" !

Well, Jimbo, that's a yes . . . and a no. On two occasions now I have actually seen Thai people here using their iPad as a clipboard to rest a sheet of paper on so they could write notes on it. Thailand is a country that's hot on appearances, but without any infrastructure to root things in. (Witness the fiasco of proposing to supply every school kid with an e-tablet when (apart from the cost) 90% of their teachers didn't have a clue how to use one.) It's one thing to have CCTV cameras and chuckle at re-runs of road accidents on the local hub (which can't be seen anywhere else - without making a copy onto a thumbstick - cos there's no networking between the police stations here). It's another thing entirely to have the data output of these linked into a national grid (or even a local one) where anything purposeful can be done with it.

You can rest assured that there is no facial recognition process being deployed here. For a start it would need an infrastructure that Thailand doesn't have (like national networking frinstance) into which a database of acquired and indexed mug-shots would have to be built-up in the first place and then processed and linked. Hell, the border posts actually still use dozens of wanted photos pinned on the inside wall of the exit/entry booths - rock-solid facial recognition technique.

The point is brought sharply home when doing a border run in and out of Malaysia. Not only does the smooth tarmac suddenly turn into the surface of the moon but the Thai side doesn't even appear to have a chip scanner for the passports; 300 metres away in Malaysia there's not only that but a biometric fingerprint ID scanner too. And you can bet your bum that the output from that isn't printed onto hard copy for a guy under the counter with a magnifying glass to work out if the prints match or not. (Like they'd have to do in a country not so far away.)

And also the official taking the photos of farangs boarding the ferry wasn't bothering with the occupants any of the vehicles that were going on. A further point - he was standing 8 or 10 feet away and looked like he was getting full-length shots - not mug shots.

Having read the comments here I have come to think the whole thing was far simpler than it may have appeared - it certainly wan't to do with the boat being overloaded . . . all they'd need to do would be to count the tickets. I lean towards the idea of having the photos printed on to plates or mugs - a nice little earner. Or maybe the guy was simply trying out his new camera in different situations. Or maybe building a collection of wierdo traveler shots cos his chums at the station wouldn't believe what he'd told them.

Who knows. It's Kipling's 'inscrutable oriental mind' mixed in with a big dose of TIT

But that's the charm of it all - innit. And it's far, far preferable to living in England!

R

Edited January 4, 2012 by Rooo
Fixed quotes.

robsamui · January 4, 2012

And just to add a touch of irony - Google (which IS networked) has even picked up on my ramblings and suppled us with an ad for a fingerprint scanner. Now that's the way to do things!

(Anyone from Immigration reading this - now you've got no excuse . . . Oh. You don't have PayPal? Yeah, you know, erm PayPal . . . check bin puan? It's when you can go online . . . yes you need a computer . . . and then . . . yes you need to write things with the computer . . . in English . . . and then when you have registered your credit card . . .no not your ATM card, you need a. . .oh mai pen rai krap . . .)

R

Edited January 4, 2012 by robsamui

robsamui · January 4, 2012

Just stumbled across this on the web. Not only is at appropriate but it's specially worded for Big C . . . (WHY is there no Smiley for tongue-in-cheek . . .)

Ahem.

Media scholars operating within a Marxist framework view the penetration of mass media into Third World cultures as a form of oppression enacting a colonialist agenda upon helpless spectators. Proponents of cultural studies, however, argue that television audiences actively and creatively construct their own meanings rather than passively absorb pre-packaged meanings imposed upon them (Ang 243).

Messages encoded in the First World may be aberrantly decoded wholly or partially in Third World countries. Peruvian Indians carry around small, rectangular rocks painted to look like transistor radios ... Bana tribesmen in Kako, Ethiopia pay a hefty price to look through a view-master at 'Pluto Tries to Become a Circus Dog' and have been known to use iPads as clipboards.

R

Edited January 4, 2012 by robsamui

samuijimmy · January 4, 2012

OMG! Going to have to sleep on all that!!!!! You have too much time on your hands there, Mr Robby!

Bye the way, any one else noticed lately? I think Mr Boater and Mr Big C have been givin each other spelling lessons

sbk · January 4, 2012

Or, more mundanely, they are acting on a tipoff about drugs.

robsamui · January 4, 2012

OMG! Going to have to sleep on all that!!!!! You have too much time on your hands there, Mr Robby!

Bye the way, any one else noticed lately? I think Mr Boater and Mr Big C have been givin each other spelling lessons

Don't be silly - I'm doing 2 full-time (OK part time) jobs - it's just I got real fast fingers.

RE: Big Boat and erm . . . C-ser . . . you're right - I think they are morphing. There's a novel - Flann O'Brian - I forget - about a policeman. He has spent so much time sitting on his bicycle that there had been a molecule exchange between his bum and the saddle and at one point him bum is only atoms away from becoming a bicycle seat. I think boata speny sos mach time hear thaivisa tht he begn to tun in twobig C. Than Gos is it anly him.

R

Edited January 4, 2012 by robsamui

robsamui · January 4, 2012

Or, more mundanely, they are acting on a tipoff about drugs.

http://www.thaivisa....k-bus-terminal/

I've turned the fridge inside out over the last couple of days . . . bloody Alzheimers.

(Fridge - - geddit - - - )

Sigh.

smokie36 · January 6, 2012

Or, more mundanely, they are acting on a tipoff about drugs.

http://www.thaivisa....k-bus-terminal/

I flew in! Hard luck coppers!!

BigC · January 6, 2012

Or, more mundanely, they are acting on a tipoff about drugs.

http://www.thaivisa....k-bus-terminal/

Or, more mundanely, they are acting on a tipoff about drugs.

http://www.thaivisa....k-bus-terminal/

I've turned the fridge inside out over the last couple of days . . . bloody Alzheimers.

(Fridge - - geddit - - - )

Sigh.

yes i have herd that the police have been piss testing allot of people laitly. Probably taking photos of what look like druggies then piss testing them if they come back via the same boat.

They have to get off their arse and do something every now and then. SOmetime pretending to be working does not fly with bangkok so they have to do some real work every now and then so they can spend more time sleeping without worrying about the BBK bill breathing down on them.

So becarefull small time druggies as you are in danger that and drink drivers.

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