Does One Has The Rights To Refuse Random Police Car Check On A Dark & Deserted Road ?

[Holysteel]

As the above ( topic ) It scared the shit out of me sometimes. Cant tell the difference between them (bandits) and the real mccoy (gov enforcers). They just appear out of nowhere with a few lights and red signals flashing armed with guns & baton preparing to shoot at the slightest resistance.

There are those legitimate road stop with afew high rank police at present along with brightly lit sign. This is acceptable, although still there will be some odds of corruption & fake accusation that will occur. There are some stops that appear completely unlegal setup according to law. 3-4 guys in a group wearing offical uniforms waving down cars, etc etc u know the picture. There are even some road block that are manned by volunteers alone without the presence of police.

I feel completely helpless sometimes and just let them go ahead and do whatever they want with the car ( searching ). Sometimes there will be afew ladies in the car & i felt completely useless in protecting them. What if they demand this, they demand that...etc.. What if they dun like our faces or tone or attitude somehow & purposely planted some contraband in it ?

Although i am a law abiding person who mean no harm at all & has nothing to hide. I do feel violated at times & felt that i am completely under their mercy.

I am sure i am not the only one who felt this way. This has to stop somehow ! So question is does one has the rights to refuse a car search in Thailand by the authority ?

If anyone has a similar story to share. Please come forward.

Any insight or advise is greatly appreciated.

Thank you

[cdnvic]

Removed profanity from topic description. Next time the topic will be deleted.

[RakJungTorlae]

I never stop for those sketchy check points. I don’t believe there real cops.

[vtjforyou]

Do not stop ! They all are bandits in Bkk. The best solution is to leave this ugly city...

[pauljones]

Impersonating a cop has never been easier.

You can buy the uniform etc right outside the Pattaya Police Station.

http://inpattayanow.com/2012/01/31/opinion/pattayas-bizarre-police-bazaar/

[zzaa09]

...[sic] "Sometimes there will be a few ladies in the car"

Employees?

[pauljones]

In the local paper, a month or so ago, in Pattaya, a fake officer actually took a person into the police station for drug tests.

You can't make this stuff up.

[zzaa09]

In the local paper, a month or so ago, in Pattaya, a fake officer actually took a person into the police station for drug tests.

You can't make this stuff up.

Some yearn to become cops they just might have invented this fantasy for themselves - I'm not talking of the Pattaya Volunteer Force.

One can wonder as to the desire of teenage and young men to join the [legit] police forces here.

Never mind the base pay, the career has many fringe benefits.

[Trembly]

Night-time checkpoints are required by law to have brightly lit signs XX meters before you reach them. There must always be a Police Officer (2Lt and up) present as he alone has authority to undersign tickets/cautions etc given by the Other Ranks present at the checkpoint. Having said that, if it's only a 2Lt present then chances are he is fresh-faced young'un who quivers in the presence of the Sergeant Major (Daab Tamruat, identified by the crossed swords on his rank slide), or a grizzly old ranker who is mates with 'Swords'.

In case you're wondering why this sounds so militaristic, the answer is because it is; remember folks, the Royal Thai Police is actually a gendarmerie and counts as one of Thailand's armed forces. The Armed Forces Academies Preparatory school includes Police Officer Cadets.

[Holysteel]

So. To put it simply. There is no solutions to this ? We must obliged every roadblock that we encounter ? Yes no ?

Hope someone could shine some light on this.

Thanks

[Trembly]

So. To put it simply. There is no solutions to this ? We must obliged every roadblock that we encounter ? Yes no ?

Hope someone could shine some light on this.

Thanks

There are no cut and dried 'Western' solutions to this, if that's what you're after.

I'm in no way advocating this but you could run an ad-hoc and unmarked (illegal) checkpoint consisting of two or three ORs standing in the middle of the road at 2am and there wouldn't be much they could do, unless they actually happened to be looking for someone or something and standing across the road in threes was the best that they could muster at the time, in which case you wouldn't have a leg to stand on when you possibly get pulled over by the real checkpoint half a kilo up the road which they have already radioed.

"Sorry guv, honest mistake, didn't know they was actually doing some real policing!"

"You, my son, are mos welly definitrey nick. Now ben owur"

A lot of 'Eastern' solutions-for-life are down to instinct and acute observations that your mind might not have bothered to rationalise or consciously articulate yet.

Playing by ear can be a lot of fun once you stop hitting bum notes.

[thaipod]

For the genuine police you must stop , but a lot of people don't, in fear that they are going to be set up .So you have to use your own jugement .

My wife was telling me just yesterday that police had a scam where drivers were filling up at a gas station on the outskirts of Bangkok where the boy was putting drugs in behind the gas flap after filling and the police down the road were pulling the cars up and busting them for possession. It so happened that a guy went to the toilet but decided to return to his car and noticed the attendant putting a small plastic bag in the gas compartment , he appoached the boy and he ran away. He removed the bag and sure enough the police waved him down and said they wanted to search the car and became agitated after opening the gas saying they had evidence he was a drug courier ,but had to let him go . he went to the police station and filed a complaint and contacted media .

[pauljones]

For the genuine police you must stop , but a lot of people don't, in fear that they are going to be set up .So you have to use your own jugement .

My wife was telling me just yesterday that police had a scam where drivers were filling up at a gas station on the outskirts of Bangkok where the boy was putting drugs in behind the gas flap after filling and the police down the road were pulling the cars up and busting them for possession. It so happened that a guy went to the toilet but decided to return to his car and noticed the attendant putting a small plastic bag in the gas compartment , he appoached the boy and he ran away. He removed the bag and sure enough the police waved him down and said they wanted to search the car and became agitated after opening the gas saying they had evidence he was a drug courier ,but had to let him go . he went to the police station and filed a complaint and contacted media .

WOW.

Time the Embassies put a worlwide wide alert on traveling to Thailand & Thai police.

[scorecard]

For the genuine police you must stop , but a lot of people don't, in fear that they are going to be set up .So you have to use your own jugement .

My wife was telling me just yesterday that police had a scam where drivers were filling up at a gas station on the outskirts of Bangkok where the boy was putting drugs in behind the gas flap after filling and the police down the road were pulling the cars up and busting them for possession. It so happened that a guy went to the toilet but decided to return to his car and noticed the attendant putting a small plastic bag in the gas compartment , he appoached the boy and he ran away. He removed the bag and sure enough the police waved him down and said they wanted to search the car and became agitated after opening the gas saying they had evidence he was a drug courier ,but had to let him go . he went to the police station and filed a complaint and contacted media .

WOW.

Time the Embassies put a worlwide wide alert on traveling to Thailand & Thai police.

Not only drugs in the gas tank flap, a few months ago my colleague wondered what the joke was with several gas station kids all laughing and gathered around the small gasoline insert flap on the opposite side of her car, in Chnburi. She got out quickly to investigate. One kid was pretending to put water from an open small water bottle into the tank and the other kids egging him on.

This is why I always get out of my car and stand alongside the insert door whilst the tank filling is in process. Also to check that I haven't been cheated with the no. of litres inserted compared to what I said at the start (500,, 1,000 BAht or whatever).

[Briggsy]

If this is occurring regularly in the same area, try to get on good terms with the local police station and get some phone numbers. This is Holysteel. Do you have a check point in Soi 7?

[NanLaew]

In the local paper, a month or so ago, in Pattaya, a fake officer actually took a person into the police station for drug tests.

You can't make this stuff up.

Ummm... yes you can if you don't provide a link to the true story.

[NanLaew]

So. To put it simply. There is no solutions to this ? We must obliged every roadblock that we encounter ? Yes no ?

Hope someone could shine some light on this.

Thanks

Where on earth are you encountering these frequent, late-night, impromptu road blocks? Your OP sounded more like driving home from a night on the piss in Rio.

[pauljones]

In the local paper, a month or so ago, in Pattaya, a fake officer actually took a person into the police station for drug tests.

You can't make this stuff up.

Ummm... yes you can if you don't provide a link to the true story.

The Banglamung Station colluding with fake police, kidnapping for ransom is what they are up to.

http://www.pattayaone.net/pattaya-news/40977/fake-police-officer-arrested-by-pattaya-police/

[NanLaew]

In the local paper, a month or so ago, in Pattaya, a fake officer actually took a person into the police station for drug tests.

You can't make this stuff up.

Ummm... yes you can if you don't provide a link to the true story.

The Banglamung Station colluding with fake police, kidnapping for ransom is what they are up to.

http://www.pattayaon...pattaya-police/

Priceless..... cheers!

[JurgenG]

Quote of the day :

"Even paranoids have real enemies" Delmore Schwartz

[Kwasaki]

If you hadn't of mentioned Thailand, I would of thought it was a misplaced post from Beirutvisa.com

[simon43]

You need to 'out-face' them, whether they be fake or real officers. . They won't dare to 'hassle' you

It's risky to impersonate a police officer (albeit easy to do).

Howabout

or even

or best of all

(credits to Stickman)

Simon

[Holysteel]

Hope a Thai Lawyer would shine some light on this. There is still no answers to this. Gone are the days that i have to smile pathetically to every guy with a badge. Even though i did nothing wrong.

[Bangkokhatter]

Hope a Thai Lawyer would shine some light on this. There is still no answers to this. Gone are the days that i have to smile pathetically to every guy with a badge. Even though i did nothing wrong.

Can I ask where this is happening, I drive every day here and sure meet me fair share of police, but generally get waved on or go through the negotiation stage over some imagined infringement of their traffic laws

[deejah]

Night-time checkpoints are required by law to have brightly lit signs XX meters before you reach them. There must always be a Police Officer (2Lt and up) present as he alone has authority to undersign tickets/cautions etc given by the Other Ranks present at the checkpoint. Having said that, if it's only a 2Lt present then chances are he is fresh-faced young'un who quivers in the presence of the Sergeant Major (Daab Tamruat, identified by the crossed swords on his rank slide), or a grizzly old ranker who is mates with 'Swords'.

In case you're wondering why this sounds so militaristic, the answer is because it is; remember folks, the Royal Thai Police is actually a gendarmerie and counts as one of Thailand's armed forces. The Armed Forces Academies Preparatory school includes Police Officer Cadets.

curious writes

if there is a legit stop with a warning prior

could ONE option be turn around and find a detour or go back to point of origin?

(if not in the mood for a stop or search or whatever else they do)

[wayned]

A few years ago I was going from downtown to the old airport to catch an early fight. It was still dark. The taxi was on the elevated expressway. He jammed on the brakes and stopped. Why, because there were two Police, dressed in brown with no reflecting vests, stopping all of the traffic using their flash llights. A van decided to not stop. One cop threw his flashlight at the van, the other pulled his gun and fired at the van until he ran out of bullets. So if you don't want to stop, you better be wearing full body armour and a bullet proof helmet. I asked the driver why we had been stopped. He said that a "royal entourage" was passing on the road below.

[Holysteel]

A few years ago I was going from downtown to the old airport to catch an early fight. It was still dark. The taxi was on the elevated expressway. He jammed on the brakes and stopped. Why, because there were two Police, dressed in brown with no reflecting vests, stopping all of the traffic using their flash llights. A van decided to not stop. One cop threw his flashlight at the van, the other pulled his gun and fired at the van until he ran out of bullets. So if you don't want to stop, you better be wearing full body armour and a bullet proof helmet. I asked the driver why we had been stopped. He said that a "royal entourage" was passing on the road below.

That two cop without reflective vest were very lucky not to get bang down by cars travelling at 140-160km/h at night on the motorway. I would say..

[Holysteel]

Come on come on. There should be an answer to this. Where are the lawyers here? Are they capable of doing only work permits, visas, company setup and marriage registration lol ....

[NanLaew]

Hope a Thai Lawyer would shine some light on this. There is still no answers to this. Gone are the days that i have to smile pathetically to every guy with a badge. Even though i did nothing wrong.

You keep banging on about lawyers and bogus cop traffic stops. You have been asked to tell us where you have been hit so many times but won't answer. Maybe it's paranoia or all in your imagination as in my +15 years in Thailand, driving days and nights just about everywhere apart from the north and the south, I have never been the 'victim' of a traffic stop by anyone other than legitimate cops.

[Pseudolus]

When hiding from the Floods in Pattaya for a few weeks on driving from a Loi Kratong festival by a lake back to Khao Talo where I was staying I saw from a good old distance one of these check points. It was about11pm, I had had a couple of cans of beer (literally 2) but instinct kicked in and I swerved on a left turn prior to getting to them. No idea why but I know that if I went to the check point, it was going to cost me money.

People on here are saying that they drive straight through the check points though - really? I would have that they would be on their bike and after you in a split second.

@OP you don't need a lawyer for this. If the police tell you to stop you stop. If they want to search your car, you have to let them. If they want some tea money you have to give it to them. Your choice is to stop or not.