My Experience With Thai Police Last Night , And I Have Few Questions

[sysardman]

Dropping litter is a well publicised offence (signs in the streets) Going home at 10 pm in a taxi and having to go past soi 22/asoke is not a publicised offence!!

The relative cheapness of 'being on your way' doesnt detract from the fact that its illegal and pisses people off. If you drop litter in the UK it IS a fine because its been deemed an offence. Tell me you would be ok to be on your way home in a taxi in your own country and get shaken down by police for merely 'going home'

If you remember the OP didn't have ID and was let off, no fine, nothing, zilch, zero, is it sinking in yet!!!!!

But you are forgetting the entire reason for the stop was to extort money or plant drugs

Caught me bang to rights guvn'r I also got a few WMDs in the luggage - it's a fair cop.

By the way we knew Saddam had WMDs because we sold him the bloody things to fight Iran - sly old fox got rid of em.

[Nisa]

Just a thought, maybe the reason you havent read a post 'it happened to me and i paid' is because the people posting here, live here and know the score? The reason the police are active in those areas are to catch the 'tourists' who are unaware of what they are like, get shit scared cos they are in a foreign country and dont speak the language and will pay a couple of hundred baht just to get back to the safety of their hotel?.....and then incidently go home to their country of origin, tell their friends of their bad experiences and thus put off a few more people wanting to visit Thailand.

Given the ever increasing number of visitors and passengers arriving by plane, i guess word of mouth isn't spreading that much.

But am curious to know your story of being robbed by the police. Did they say they know you have done nothing wrong but want some money or they will kill, beat or lock you up because we prefer to get a couple hundred baht from somebody doing nothing wrong that grabbing the vast number of people in plain sight doing things wrong like not wearing a helmet?

Dont quite understand your point. But if your trying to say that the police prefer to chase real 'criminasl' for not wearing helmets than an easy pick tourist then i think your wrrong

Yea much easier to get a couple hundred baht out of somebody who is from western civilization, has done nothing wrong, they don't know who they are connected with and doesn't speak the language ... than getting money from the hundreds of people they run across each day actually doing something wrong be they foreign or local.

Please use some common sense instead of going along with the silliness posted here. I have never seen so many people, who appear to be educated, make such idiotic blanket statements about the norms of entire groups of people because of one-off situations. Let me tell you that in the west police commit murders for hire, rape,assault, deal drugs, do burglaries and so on but does that mean each time you get stopped you should worry about being murdered, raped in the behind with a club, stole from and assaulted? (not necessarily in that order)

Edit: But i really did like your explanation of why because we don't here about it, we should believe it is happening.

Edited August 30, 2012 by Nisa

[SpoliaOpima]

I've yet to read a post where any 'it happened to me'er' has paid a fine even though some have actually broken a law. Of course the BiB will try it on with the salary they get and I bet you would too in their shoes.

Just a thought, maybe the reason you havent read a post 'it happened to me and i paid' is because the people posting here, live here and know the score? The reason the police are active in those areas are to catch the 'tourists' who are unaware of what they are like, get shit scared cos they are in a foreign country and dont speak the language and will pay a couple of hundred baht just to get back to the safety of their hotel?.....and then incidently go home to their country of origin, tell their friends of their bad experiences and thus put off a few more people wanting to visit Thailand.

That's what I was thinking. Also it would be pretty easy for the cops to palm a bill here and there without the searchee noticing. One friend who told me he was searched at Asok and Suk soi 16 said he had his shoulder bag searched by two cops standing a meter or two away from the taxi while two other cops searched his pockets. When the search found nothing, they gave the bag back and sent him on his way, but when he got home and checked his bag he noticed a pocket camera was missing. He considered going back to the spot to complain but reckoned he had no proof and would just get harassed again so let it slide. Maybe small-time pilfering is a lot less hassle then planting drugs and taking you back to the station or an ATM.

Judging from the stories I hear, the constant night searches started around a year ago last November.

By the way, the conversation when I was urine-tested was all in Thai, not English. I've been searched a number of times now in the same parts of town, and have tried both English and Thai with the police. Avoiding Thai doesn't seem to help much if at all. It just makes the whole procedure take four times as long because of the communication difficulties.

[QED]

Slightly off the subject but to do with corruption by police officers.

Sunday I travelled over to a market near the Cambodian border, on the way back there are many checkpoints many of which areunmanned or the pc is reading his paper or chatting to his mates. However on one of them they were checking the cars asthey came through. i was following three cars who were stopped and waved on. I was asked to stop which I did, wound down the window and showed my thai driving license. The policeman wasn't interested in looking at the driving license just said something to my Thai wife. she told me that he said 'i had been driving in the wrong lane and I was to pull over to the side and pay 100b' Now those of you who drive through a checkpoint know there is only one way you can go and only one lane besides i did exactly the same as the previous cars. Anyway we parked up outside the building then was told to move further along then my wife got out of the car with a 100B and took it to the Police building. the man there told her just to put it in the box by the window. This no doubt was tea/beer money 'donated' by farangs. If it was a legitimate infringement and fine then one could have asked for and got a receipt. Bent coppers everywhere but you have to chin-up smile and accept this is Thailand.

Come on, did you just arrive? This is not news to 99% of the people here

[QED]

1) Thai police can also take your blood any time they want legally

2) It IS legal for them to search your bags etc. in any public place and also ask you to empty your pockets

3) It is NOT legal for them to put their hands in your pockets in public

4) You are required by Thai law to carry your passport with you at ALL times but the smaller laminated ones were excepted in 2008

Agree with 1-3, but 4 is incorrect. You are required to carry some form of ID and be able to produce your passport in a reasonable amount of time. This has been done to death on TV, just search for it

[sysardman]

I've yet to read a post where any 'it happened to me'er' has paid a fine even though some have actually broken a law. Of course the BiB will try it on with the salary they get and I bet you would too in their shoes.

Just a thought, maybe the reason you havent read a post 'it happened to me and i paid' is because the people posting here, live here and know the score? The reason the police are active in those areas are to catch the 'tourists' who are unaware of what they are like, get shit scared cos they are in a foreign country and dont speak the language and will pay a couple of hundred baht just to get back to the safety of their hotel?.....and then incidently go home to their country of origin, tell their friends of their bad experiences and thus put off a few more people wanting to visit Thailand.

By the way, the conversation when I was urine-tested was all in Thai, not English. I've been searched a number of times now in the same parts of town, and have tried both English and Thai with the police. Avoiding Thai doesn't seem to help much if at all. It just makes the whole procedure take four times as long because of the communication difficulties.

Well I think they were just taking the piss

[wellred]

Can people stop banging on about UK or farang police please. This isn't what this thread is about and for holiday makers trying look for genuine advice on how to make the situation less painful IN THAILAND it's become hard as I have sift through so much crap. Why not open a separate thread on RTP vs the rest of the world if you want to discuss that.

[TommoPhysicist]

By the way, the conversation when I was urine-tested was all in Thai, not English. I've been searched a number of times now in the same parts of town, and have tried both English and Thai with the police. Avoiding Thai doesn't seem to help much if at all. It just makes the whole procedure take four times as long because of the communication difficulties.

Speak no Thai, pretend to be stupid, it makes the process last 4x as long, so they can only collect 1/4 of the 'fines'.

Often they wave you on, when realizing they will be wasting an excessive amount of their 'fine collecting' time.

[MrRealDeal]

It's a constitutional monarchy not a democracy , and the USA is a constitutional republic not a democracy ....... I'm not really sure why you think democracy has anything to do with it in the first place but thats the answer.

Police have the right to search you in both Thailand and the USA for things that may harm them without arresting you, in thailand they can also search for drugs on a random basis , so yes they can search you , no it's not a democracy.

[sysardman]

By the way, the conversation when I was urine-tested was all in Thai, not English. I've been searched a number of times now in the same parts of town, and have tried both English and Thai with the police. Avoiding Thai doesn't seem to help much if at all. It just makes the whole procedure take four times as long because of the communication difficulties.

Speak no Thai, pretend to be stupid, it makes the process last 4x as long, so they can only collect 1/4 of the 'fines'.

Often they wave you on, when realizing they will be wasting an excessive amount of their 'fine collecting' time.

Wow I must look stupid too because they often wave me past without stopping me

[lizardtongue]

I have always understood that the Police can search anyone given 'reasonable grounds' as the above post mentions.

However, they are not allowed to place their hands inside your pockets. They should ask you to empty your pockets and then they can pat you down to check there is nothing remaining in your pockets.

Rumour has it that the reason they are searching foreigners in the Sukhumvit area (near Sukhumvit Soi 22) is that the area is a known for westerners dealing drugs.

Whilst I agree the thing that disturbs me is what can be put in your pocket!

[boggle]

^{Been happening for many years. Not just to Farang but Thais as well. GF was in a hurry to get to work. Was stopped at Suk/Asoke made to piss in the bottle. She was so very pissd off. Chatted with our cop mates from the same district. "Ah well thats the way it is" was the reply.}

^{Walking past asok/suk noticed a friend being stopped in his taxi and searched . No passport. Stopped and had a polite chat about nothing to him and the coppers. A few smiles and on your way. It will happen, just be polite and smile and most of the time no probs. Dont start the crap with ing. Just makes you look like a gullible knob farang.}

^{Has happened to me in bars and clubs here as well. So what! Enjoy the free show. Dont stress about it.}

^{Same shit diffeerent day. Dont forget, TIT guys.}

[KhunV]

^{Been happening for many years. Not just to Farang but Thais as well. GF was in a hurry to get to work. Was stopped at Suk/Asoke made to piss in the bottle. She was so very pissd off. Chatted with our cop mates from the same district. "Ah well thats the way it is" was the reply.}

^{Walking past asok/suk noticed a friend being stopped in his taxi and searched . No passport. Stopped and had a polite chat about nothing to him and the coppers. A few smiles and on your way. It will happen, just be polite and smile and most of the time no probs. Dont start the crap with ing. Just makes you look like a gullible knob farang.}

^{Has happened to me in bars and clubs here as well. So what! Enjoy the free show. Dont stress about it.}

^{Same shit diffeerent day. Dont forget, TIT guys.}

Absolutely agree with you!

[dukeandduke]

^{Been happening for many years. Not just to Farang but Thais as well. GF was in a hurry to get to work. Was stopped at Suk/Asoke made to piss in the bottle. She was so very pissd off. Chatted with our cop mates from the same district. "Ah well thats the way it is" was the reply.}

^{Walking past asok/suk noticed a friend being stopped in his taxi and searched . No passport. Stopped and had a polite chat about nothing to him and the coppers. A few smiles and on your way. It will happen, just be polite and smile and most of the time no probs. Dont start the crap with ing. Just makes you look like a gullible knob farang.}

^{Has happened to me in bars and clubs here as well. So what! Enjoy the free show. Dont stress about it.}

^{Same shit diffeerent day. Dont forget, TIT guys.}

Well-said and good advice. They stopped me after my taxi turned left from Sukhumvit onto Ratchadapisek last "night." I didn't have anything on me, but I never do. Word to the wise: don't carry anything you shouldn't.

Somehow, after several adult beverages at 400am, I kept my wits about me and didn't get agitated with them. At my core, I think this process is total bullshit, but luckily that mindset stays hidden even when I'm out of my mind.

I thought it was interesting that they looked at every card -- credit cards, ATM, etc. -- with a fine-toothed comb. Are they looking for cocaine residue or the like?

I appreciate that they didn't grope me too hard. As Fred Willard said in "Best in Show" as the judge is touching the dog's sack, "Wow, usually I have to take them to dinner and a movie first."

[dukeandduke]

On a side note to my above post, I was alone in the back of the taxi because the woman with whom I had been spending quality time from 200-400AM was drunk as a skunk and would have been worthless. I wonder how the poe-poe would have treated me differently if I had a trashed Thai woman with me.

[crazykopite]

Over the last 8 years I have been stopped on about 4 occasions and searched at no time did the policeman put his hands in my pocket they asked me to empty my pockets and then would look through what I had produced. One time I have over 8,000 baht but he did not blink an eyelid wished me well and I was on my way I have a Thai driving License which you should have if you have lived here for over 3 months and drive and I always carry that rather than my passport !!!!!!!!!

[harrry]

By the way tell me, the innocent brazilian guy did he was shot by a drunken english cop who loss face? NO!

Did the case get a proper investigation, why he get shot? YES!

Did the UK cop who shot the guy, participate to the investigation? NO!

Did the UK cop try/OR have the means to block the investigation? NO!

Did the Brazil/embassy did complain about the investigation? NO

THe guy is still dead isn't he? Should he be? .....No......WHy is he dead?....the police shot him.

Edited August 18, 2013 by harrry