Expatriates Go Undercover In Patong

[zzap]

Good points, LivinLos!

[Tornado]

good points LivinLos - I have no answers, it looks like the usual, come up with a "plan" and then after it has been set in motion, think about the consequences..

The flower seller's for instance - sad case they are on the street in the first place and like many of us, I never buy flowers as it adds to the ugly, but I do buy them a coke or food, once Ive turned them down on a flower... Is GI Joe gonna jump out from behind the bar and mase me?

who has trained these guys? when did this secret gathering take place? do they actually speak the language?

Why on earth didnt they allow some of the expat bar owners to be the eyes for them? Before anyway suggest that they are also pedos, I can guarantee many of them before I could guarantee a no name newbie on a mission.

who knows? TIT.

[LivinLOS]

I believe some of them are in the bar and hotel industry.. I dont know any personally or i would have had a quizzing to address some of the ideas and concerns.. I think if I stop one on the street my questions have a high probability of being taken badly or come accross as confrontational..

I was told by someone else that he knows a guy who started but now feels he wants to quit.. He joined with the good intention of assisting people and giving back to the community he stays in, but as I have pointed out thier lack of a clear role has resulted in him being accosted by a drunk taunting him to "just try and arrest me and I will knock your <deleted> teeth out", poking him in the chest etc.. So its obvious that its not all roses and medals from thier side and I think most of this is due to such a poorly thought out and laid out plan..

To my it just has so much backfire potential, even if 59 of the 60 volenteers mean well it only takes one bad apple to overstep thier mark.. Plus I would hazard a guess that any infraction will be backed up totally to thier side by the Thai police (stick together and deny deny deny)..

[oljoe]

Well they have recently changed thier uniforms from all white to all black paramilitary style..

As these guys have no rights of detention or arrest why do they carry handcuffs on thier utility belt (with mace) ???

Wonder why these vigilante types seem to favour brown (Third Reich SA); or black? (Third Reich SS or Gestapo). Bit of nostalgia maybe?

[stumur]

Who do you contact regarding any underage illicit goings on in Patong. If necessary ?

A concerned expat with Thai wife and young son.

Brits helping out......Good or bad idea...from todays TIMES...

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1895011,00.html (with thanks)

From Daniel McGrory in Phuket

BRITONS living on a Thai resort island that was damaged by the tsunami have joined an undercover team of volunteers to help to trap sex tourists preying on youngsters who survived the disaster.

This “foreign legion” comprises European expatriates who infiltrate bars around Patong Beach, which the authorities have been trying to purge of paedophiles since the tragedy last December.

J.T a 37-year-old systems analyst and one of the volunteers, said: “We can visit places where the police can’t go to look for under-age youngsters being used for sex.”

He and two others from the 60-strong force were dressed in T-shirts and shorts and sitting in a dimly lit bar after midnight, no more than 500 yards from the refurbished seafront. 

While most of the customers were watching teenage girls who were dancing on a bar in the backstreets of the Bangla district, the undercover squad was keeping an eagle eye on one patron who was chatting to a young street vendor in a torn dress who was selling chewing gum. She looked to be no more than eight years old.

Some of the civilian recruits work part time as volunteers for the Thai Tourist Police Division, but they are not armed and have no powers of arrest, so they call on officers to deal with any tourist they suspect of soliciting for under-age sex. The volunteers’ role is not without risk because a number of the bars are controlled by local gangs.

O.B, an Italian photographer and police volunteer, said:

“Since these civilian teams have been operating, the bar owners won’t risk using anyone under-age because they know what will happen if they are caught.” He described his undercover work last week in a gay bar, where an under-age boy was found among the dancers.

The club was shut down immediately .

Local officials are eager to improve the unsavoury reputation of Patong before Thailand becomes the focus of attention in the West, as the first anniversary of the Boxing Day disaster approaches.

More than 300 people — holidaymakers and local residents — are believed to have been killed by the tidal wave at this resort.

In the immediate aftermath Thai ministers vowed to close down the sex bars.

G.T, of the charity World Vision International, said: “The intentions were honourable, but the club scene in Patong makes too much money for it to go quietly.” He said that the Government had poured millions into rebuilding the infrastructure of Patong to encourage tourists to return.

There are concerns among aid organisations that the anniversary of the tsunami will attract a wave of bogus charity workers. World Vision has produced a series of posters for schools, children’s groups and refugee centres, advising youngsters, their parents and teachers what to do if strangers come offering gifts.

Mr T said: “There have been some dodgy groups pitching up here, claiming to be from all sorts of charities and offering gifts and help for children, and Thai communities don’t know what to do. It is part of their culture not to be rude to guests and to be grateful if offered a gift.”

A Greek visitor who is awaiting trial allegedly tried to “adopt” half a dozen youngsters from a refuge and take them to what he claimed was a charity that he ran in northern Thailand.

He had no documents to support his claims, so a suspicious teacher called in the police.

There are no figures for how many workers in the Patong sex industry perished in the tsunami or fled shortly afterwards, but they were soon replaced.

Unicef, the UN children’s agency, has given warning that some of the new recruits have contracted HIV.

...abbreviated

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[LivinLOS]

Depends on the nature of the action..

Police themselves ??? One of the volunteers and later the chief organiser have responded on phuket info.. Perhaps getting in touch with user bman on there or dropping into his bar (listed in his posts.. I will leave it out for his personal privacy) and having a chat..

Would be a way of passing the info to a farang and then letting him get it into the Thai system..

[NBT TV Phuket]

to see minivideo of interview with Tourist Police officers and an American volunteer see

http://www.thaisnews.com/news_detail.php?newsid=159111