New York-Style Policing May Be Adopted In Bangkok

[Lite Beer]

PRIME MINISTER'S US VISIT

New York-style policing may be adopted

Anapat Deechuay

The Nation on Sunday

BANGKOK: -- Yingluck may bring US planning, police tactics to Bangkok

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra plans to apply aspects of New York's town-planning and security systems in the Thai capital, she said yesterday.

On her recent visit to the city, Yingluck met with New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg to study the city's town-planning and traffic-management systems, which she said could be used to improve the quality of life in Bangkok.

The PM said she learned many interesting things during the visit that could be applied to Thai policies, such as the New York Police Department's security operations, which feature efficient coverage and networking.

She plans to discuss ways of applying them here with the National Police chief.

Asked if the government's "Thai Kitchen to the World" policy had received positive feedback, Commerce Minister Boonsong Teriyaphirom answered on her behalf that the "Thai Restaurant Week" event, featuring 50 Thai restaurants, had attracted attention from the media and the New York public. In regard to her meeting in New York with Myanmar President Thein Sein about the Dawei deep seaport, she said they agreed in principle to establish a joint committee to push the project forward, and that Thailand would host the committee's first meeting.

Yingluck made these comments at Suvarnabhumi Airport while briefing reporters on her four-day trip to attend the 67th Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York last week. Her remarks were similar to those made in her most recent "Yingluck Government Meets the People" TV programme recorded in the US.

She said her speech to the General Assembly emphasised maintaining peace and security through non-violent methods to solve disputes, and that Thailand would join with other nations to combat human trafficking.

She insisted that economic development must be achieved in tandem with political development at national, regional and global levels, saying the Thai government backed the burgeoning democracy in Myanmar and wanted to see democratic developments throughout Asean.

During the visit, she was invited by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to discuss Thai policies, especially the universal healthcare plan and the Thai Women's Empowerment Fund, at the "Every Women Every Child (EWEC): Global Strategy for Women's and Children's Health" event. This project aims to save the lives of 16 million women and children by 2015.

She also talked with European Union ministers about investment and with US businessmen about trade opportunities.

Yingluck said she visited New York's elevated Highline Park and Grand Central Station to learn about efficient management systems, urban planning and safety systems that could be applied to Thai cities. She also visited schools in Harlem to observe youth education efforts.

-- The Nation 2012-09-30

[asiawatcher]

It would have to be better than anything Thailand has at present! Apart from security and normal police duties, imagine if the Govt removed all the B.i.B. sitting drinking coffee and chatting to girlfriends in the traffic boxes. If they could simply turn the traffic lights back on to automatic, run 30 second intervals and sync the intersections with a staggered delay, traffic could actually move. Getting rid of police overriding traffic light control (sheer stupidity), would go a long way to solving Bangkok's traffic issues. And imagine how many police that would free up to actually handle police work including security and solving crime?

[chiang mai]

Surely you would have to have police on the beat first for that to work, or at least outside of the police station.

[Sharp]

Surely you would have to have police on the beat first for that to work, or at least outside of the police station.

Ha ha ,,,nice ....

Sent from my iPad using ThaiVisa app

[Dibbler]

NY style policing means that minor offences (e.g. petty theft, unlawful possession of weapons, traffic offences) are not tolerated, and anyone causing the death of a policeman, goes to jail. How likely is this to happen in Thailand with the law selectively applied in every case, and offenders able to buy or dodge their way out of trouble if they have the means and influence to do so! The present system of city policing in BKK as well as the legal system would need to be turned on its head to make such a change. And who would agree to increasing police operating budgets to make it happen?

[Curt1591]

"Policing" of any "style" involves enforcing laws.

This is a foreign concept here.

[PoodMaiDai]

Shall I fall on the floor and laugh until I cry now, or wait until someone swindles the billions of baht they will spend to try to make it happen?

Crime usually starts at the police level and works down. Unless they are going to start firing police, it's a lost cause. A lot of dirty police in NYC too.

[bkkjames]

Did she not read the news the other day : LA has already been accepted as the role model for Bangkok.

Maybe if she can import some proper pizzas from NY, some mexican food from LA and cheese from Wisconsin it will be a worthwhile trip on behalf of us taxpayers...

[tominbkk]

I appreciate Yingluck for her enthusiasm, it sounds like she listened to some people and had some good conversations there. I can't believe I'm saying something positive about her.

The police situation will never change until they eradicate the element of corruption. As long as the institution relies on and expects regular kickbacks, it will never change. Let's see her go after that!

[fareastguy]

You can buy all the systems in the world that you want, but it's the operators that make it work.. there lays the problem !!

[kotsak]

Where there's a will there's a way.. Unfortunately here, the former is missing..

[MEL1]

The budget allocated for policing in the Big Apple is spent exactly just on that - 100% policing.

35% of it does not disappear before it arrives to the individual bureaus which control the divided area and precincts.

If 35% did disappear then NY would have a similar problem as BKK does.

There in lies a rather large problem. The US Government leaders don't expect tea-money for doing their jobs!

-mel

[zydeco]

I don't want "New York style" policing or any other American style policing. One of the good things about being here is that I am not spied on constantly, with private companies (we're talking credit agencies, here) being given carte blanche to investigate you and determine if and how much you pay for insurance, electricity, cable TV, rent, etc. And I don't want some Bloomberg clone outlawing soft drinks, doughnuts, and anything else that pops into his pea brain because he thinks it's bad or unhealthy for everyone else. Corruption is better than living in a police state.

[Thai at Heart]

This reads like a high school report about a trip to the museum.

On Wednesday we went too the museum and saw lots of nice things and i think we should do them too.......

[lizardtongue]

The police in Western countries work nights as police officers, from my experience the majority of police in Thailand work nights as pimps, debt collectors and running protection rackets.

[MEL1]

I wonder if she'll take up this NY ideas also?

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/morning-pills-13-nyc-schools-17307816

The 'morning after' pill available in NY schools !

-mel.

[Payboy]

Where there's a will there's a way.. Unfortunately here, the former is missing..

It's actually - where there's a bill, there's a payout.

[Familyonthemove]

Surely you would have to have police on the beat first for that to work, or at least outside of the police station.

Ha ha ,,,nice ....

Sent from my iPad using ThaiVisa app

Bangkok Police are on the streets regularly ...... end of the month collection 'tea money' .... like clockwork.

[hellodolly]

What is the difference if she brings in New York style policing?

Courts will still condone crimes with ridicules sentences.

[CiaranO]

Law and law enforcement in Thailand is a joke.................imagine the BIB actually doing their job.......that would be a start....

[chainarong]

Give us a break , one would think we were all a bunch of idiots, the closest to New York this would come ,will be on a 380 at Kennedy, never heard of so much rubbish in all me 65years on earth, time for a cuppa

[Baloo22]

"Policing" of any "style" involves enforcing laws. This is a foreign concept here.

Short, concise, and right on point! Thailand is a country with 10,000 laws, very few are ever enforced. Why should drivers actually stop for red lights at pedestrian crossings? Stop burning trash and everything else they want to when people are breathing smoke in Chiang Rai? Police never enforce even the most simple and basic laws. That is unless some rich pu-yai pays them to do it against their business competition or political enemy. Or the police themselves are shareholders in a business enterprise themselves and need to squelch the competition.

[lizardtongue]

I wonder if she'll take up this NY ideas also?

http://abcnews.go.co...chools-17307816

The 'morning after' pill available in NY schools !

-mel.

If it is free the answer is 'no' however if there is a way that the pupils can be charged then the answer is 'yes'

[fareastguy]

The budget allocated for policing in the Big Apple is spent exactly just on that - 100% policing.

35% of it does not disappear before it arrives to the individual bureaus which control the divided area and precincts.

If 35% did disappear then NY would have a similar problem as BKK does.

There in lies a rather large problem. The US Government leaders don't expect tea-money for doing their jobs!

-mel

Actually that's 35% for government graft, 35% for police commissioners graft, 35% for head office graft,35% when it reaches sub-divisions, another 35% when it reaches local branches & 35% when divvied out between duty officers.. what's left is to run the new scheme..

Sounds a bit like the flooding fiasco.. billions spent & nothing left to do the job with !!

[asiawatcher]

The budget allocated for policing in the Big Apple is spent exactly just on that - 100% policing.

35% of it does not disappear before it arrives to the individual bureaus which control the divided area and precincts.

If 35% did disappear then NY would have a similar problem as BKK does.

There in lies a rather large problem. The US Government leaders don't expect tea-money for doing their jobs!

-mel

Hey Mel, buddy that is the deposit, I have been hit on in some areas of my business for as high as 70% in which they were wai'd to with the index finger raised. I also think the figures being thrown out in the press lately for flood works et al, are exactly that - 30% goes in works and the balance is spread around between the cronies.

[noob7]

Surely you would have to have police on the beat first for that to work, or at least outside of the police station.

As long the "I have connections"-scheme is part of the problem: why do you wanna have more supporters to this on the road?

[jaltsc]

Wow...Great time to be the owner of a doughnut shop!!! Expect the local police to start looking like the Michelin man. The main difference between New York and Bangkok graft, is that in New York it is more hidden, more sophisticated, and more lucrative. I doubt that people paying a few hundred thousand baht and cheating on entrance exams will be able to attain those "high" standards.

[Baloo22]

I don't want "New York style" policing or any other American style policing. One of the good things about being here is that I am not spied on constantly, with private companies (we're talking credit agencies, here) being given carte blanche to investigate you and determine if and how much you pay for insurance, electricity, cable TV, rent, etc. And I don't want some Bloomberg clone outlawing soft drinks, doughnuts, and anything else that pops into his pea brain because he thinks it's bad or unhealthy for everyone else. Corruption is better than living in a police state.

Wow! You seem to have really "integrated" into Thai society. Or are you one of the uber-rich pu-yai that pays the police to get away with whatever crime you choose to commit? You think it's better when a rich kid runs down a poor girl on a highway, cutting her in half?. And then fleeing the scene of the accident with half her body still in his car and half left on the road. He pays the girl's family, so case dropped. Most likely he only did that because his family could not get to the right police officer fast enough with the right amount of bribe money. One case in many. The norm. Do we need to get into the Santika club and how it's problems with the law dissapeared when a high-ranking police officer was made a business partner? The story did not end well for a number of people. And these are just the tip of the iceberg.

I don't agree with a lot of the "nanny-state" policies in western countries but that's not enough to excuse a police force that does not consider public safety and enforcing laws to be their job. I've lived in the both the US and Europe. Do problems exist in these places? Sure they do. But at least the rule of law actually means something. In both places, the police are not perfect and there are some "bad apples." But they are the exception. The vast majority of police officers consider public safety to be their job and their duty to enforce the laws. And most will not accept a bribe and if you offer a bribe, there is a good chance it's you that will be arrested.

Hopefully, you will rethink your previous comment.

[noob7]

. A lot of dirty police in NYC too.

That was my first thought, but will help, to make the adoption easy.

Almost across the board.

[GeorgeO]

"She insisted that economic development must be achieved in tandem with political development at national, regional and global levels, saying the Thai government backed the burgeoning democracy in Myanmar and wanted to see democratic developments throughout Asean".

I'm afraid the good lady has missed out one very important element ... "social development", which is currently about 50 years behind the West. Without this element of overall development, she is going to be unable to get past the greed and corruption that currently rules this land!