Politicians, police blame media for Pattaya’s ‘criminal’ image

[wwex]

bazaar, they say they have solved Pattayas crime problem including the jetski scams and that Pattayas real problem now is foreigners taking Thai business

Edited August 9, 2013 by wwex

[tingtongfarang]

pathetic, why dont they use their libel laws to counter it and make millions in the process? because they know their silly accusations wouldnt last a minute in even a Thai court room.

The libel laws seem to be the reason for strange incomplete reports from the media at times,

[Ulic]

Move along......Nothing to see here.......Just the cost of doing business..... No problems, no isues.......It's all good......

[Halion]

Looks like this group is intent on polishing horse shit. Have no idea as to the benefit of shiny horse shit.

[RogueLeader]

You're forgetting that this is Thailand. If no-one talks about it, it doesn't happen so therefore the media are entirely responsible for Pattaya's criminal image. Imagine that! Scaring tourists away when they should just go to Pattaya and be robbed, scammed, overcharged, beaten and murdered for the quiet profit of the local criminals.

[Khun Riki]

There is not will to solve problems in this country.

[Bagwan]

I used to buy a local Pattaya rag until I noticed that the local police head honcho was on the board of the publishers. Never bought or read a copy since. My view is that the local newspapers are merely propaganda sheets for BIB and the news hounds are hand in glove with the local filth.

[SSSlongtime]

sex drugs and rock roll all day and night ,what crime

[IrishIvan]

Was everyone ecpecting the Dalai Lama, The Pope and the Virgin Mary to be in lead roles of Chonburi's government? It is one of the biggest red light districts in the world. Surprise surprise! There is going to be corruption

[Dap]

In some sense they do have a valid point, most of the articles regarding crime in Pattaya would never reach the newspapers in most cities or countries. The newspapers report on every single incident that involves a foreigner, no matter how how trivial as a newsworthy article. This can give a warped view on the crime situation. When was the last time a mugging or a handbag snatch made the newspaper headlines in peoples home countries. In Pattaya most of them seem to reach the front pages.

It's a small place and nice to have that cozy "small town" daily police blotter news.

Makes for easy morning reading with that 1st cup o' joe

[ableguy]

So the 6 to 10 thousand hookers who are all criminals has nothing to do with this cess pits image ? prostitution is illegal thats why its called the land of smiles.

[EyesWideOpen]

Personally i would say that the politician's and the police are mostly to blame for Pattaya's "criminal " image.

I read about the problems the country Georgia had with it's police force. They were very corrupt, so a new PM after his election fired every one! No police for several months and crime actually went down. Why? Police were either explicitly or implicitly involved in every form of criminal activity. Crazy.

http://www.cracked.com/article_19489_5-terrible-ideas-that-solved-huge-global-problems.html

Haha that is great !! Thanks for the link. I really like this part.

"Saakashvili's administration quickly realized this was because it had been the cops causing most of the trouble all along. A remnant from the Soviet era, they'd treated the roads as their personal piggy bank, administering their very own brand of expensive justice at will and causing mob-style chaos as they did. When they were taken out of the equation, not even a hint of disorder was left because they had been the disorder."

I have been saying that for years here, that the police department was the national shame of Thailand, and that every cop should be fired. People responded by saying that was impossible, but the case of Georgia clearly showed that it can be done... :-)

[Ohio]

It is quite obvious that it iust the Media & everyone elses fault that there is a belief that there is a 'Criminal Image' in Pattaya

The FACT that there is a horrendous amount of Criminal Scams , etc is all in the Media attention . It is NOT happening.

Jet Ski scams, Ladyboy assaults / robberies on Beach Road , Yabba Deals , Knifings , Shootings , etc are all Media irresponsibility along with 'CRACKDOWNS' .

Pattaya is really the place to be with nothing but 'Family Friendly' Quality Tourists.

Yeah Baby !!!!

LUV IT !

[bunuel]

Can only add that all those malicious rumors suggesting that all those huge condo construction projects with Las Vegas nomenclature are Russian/ Israeli money laundering operations are completely untrue , since the Banglamung police chief has said there is no Russian mafia activity in Pattaya!

After all, if you have paid the requisite invisibility fee, you do not exist!

Clearly, appearances can be deceiving. All the very visible signs of Russian mafia activity here in Pattaya are not what they seem to be - perhaps the authorities could offer a reasonable alternative explanation for these phenomena so we can all go back to being dumb decadent farang.

In effect they seem to be saying: "Please stop telling the truth about the mess we have created and can't deal with. We are not corrupt. There is not a single corrupt policeman or politician or official here. We are all honest. Those Mercedes we drive are the result of many long hours of work.

There are no jet ski scams or Baht bus scams or foreign mafias or police mafias. Those Mercedes we drive are the result of many long hours of work. Please stop making things up.

There is no prostitution industry or there are no casinos here. That's illegal. Please stop making things up.

Nor do we collect money from businesses either. Please stop making things up. Those Mercedes we drive are the result of many long hours of work.

If you don't stop making these things up, it'll cost you a fortune!"

[bunuel]

How reassuring!

Some of us were foolish enough to think that all those huge and unattractive condo projects with the Las Vegas names were actually washing machines for ill-gotten foreign gains, since they serve no apparent consumer needs, but consume water, electricity and pollute. Indeed, in some countries where corruption is rampant, local politicians like large projects, no matter how unsustsinable, since they make their money on the construction.

Glad to know the Kingdom is the exception to the rule, and that all those very visible signs of foreign mafia presence are not what they seem !!

[Neilly]

“Stories about foreign or Thai mafia leads to a bad image, destroying many aspects of the city.”

[tingtongfarang]

Personally i would say that the politician's and the police are mostly to blame for Pattaya's "criminal " image.

I read about the problems the country Georgia had with it's police force. They were very corrupt, so a new PM after his election fired every one! No police for several months and crime actually went down. Why? Police were either explicitly or implicitly involved in every form of criminal activity. Crazy.

http://www.cracked.com/article_19489_5-terrible-ideas-that-solved-huge-global-problems.html

Haha that is great !! Thanks for the link. I really like this part.

"Saakashvili's administration quickly realized this was because it had been the cops causing most of the trouble all along. A remnant from the Soviet era, they'd treated the roads as their personal piggy bank, administering their very own brand of expensive justice at will and causing mob-style chaos as they did. When they were taken out of the equation, not even a hint of disorder was left because they had been the disorder."

I have been saying that for years here, that the police department was the national shame of Thailand, and that every cop should be fired. People responded by saying that was impossible, but the case of Georgia clearly showed that it can be done... :-)

I,m told by friends in hong kong a similar thing happened there (pre handover) but there was an amnesty involved to officers who owned up to all their crimes, heavy sentences for those who had,nt owned up to their sins and lack of moral values which came to light later.

edited to add ...i dont think this version would work in thailand, to say that the thais are unacountable for their actions by nature would be a gross understatement.

Edited August 9, 2013 by tingtongfarang

[davidstipek]

Since we are not allowed to seak or discuss anything about Thailand... Why not do this!

"Set up a Video System to record Bribes being paid."

1. It will show to whom.

2. It will show the Brown Envelope and if you open to verify (Yourself) how much is contained.

3. Ride double on Motorcycle, if stopped and requested to pay Tea Money, have cell phone ready to record conversation, read BIB name from Badge and any other points to confirm his action.

after complying, move away to a secure spot and get Picture.

4. If at anytime for any other reason you are confronted By any Goverment Offical do same. If you are with a Partner let them move away to take pictures from a secure spot!

These are thing the News can use, They will regardless of Status of Implied Employee in question. Put your Status above them. Giving you the right and privilage to do so to "Save Your Face".

See how many time this gets used before the "Tide is Turned and Heads Roll".

Get the Picture? If this is what is needed, a Certain High Ranking Offical will loose Face, as you will be doing exactly as he stipulated... To Prove Him Wrong.....

[Andre0720]

" see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil"

[Patje]

So, if I can read correct, if we stop reading the press the crimes will stop? How do we know? Watching TV ?

[blackman]

The police is definitely right in that case.

In Pattaya there are to many small and unimportant newspaper or internet sites which provide news. And specially this newspapers are used to blow up stories that in other places wouldn t even been mentioned in the news and try to make them more interesting adding facts which aren't true.

Some others just copy their news from other newspapers aswell and add some facts which are totally made up just for make their article sound more interesting.

its not only in Pattaya

[Patje]

I do hope they have a plan B in case this one is not working

[dave2]

re

The heads of the Chonburi Immigration Office, Banglamung District, Pattaya Tourist Police, and Pattaya Business and Tourism Association, joined top officials from police stations in Chonburi, Nongprue, Banglamung and Pattaya and representatives from the National Intelligence Agency and Internal Security Operational Command July 31 to condemn local media reports about crimes by both foreigners and Thais.

all of these high ranking people above !

think this below ?

They complained the media is sensationalizing crimes and even distorting facts to make matters sound worse than they really are.

head ... bury ... sand ... unbelievable

dave2

[sscsamui]

The Truth dose hurt... The police and Local Politicians.need to do something about the crime in Pattaya and Stop being part of it... Really now.. Stop putting the blame on others....

[Rimmer]

A post discussing moderation has been removed

[belg]

thaines...

blame the bringer of news, not the people in charge for not doing their jobs in the first place

[tonypace02]

Anybody who has ever been interviewed by the media or been featured in a newspaper article knows that 50% of media reports is BS, 40 % is editorializing, and 10% is facts. Even the article above contains the line:

'Failing to see the irony in their “don’t shoot the messenger” tirade, the politicians and police officials offered no plans or ideas on how to actually quell Pattaya’s crime problem, only decrying the impact the coverage has on tourism.' This is blatant editorializing and violates the first rule of journalism.

Sure, Pattaya has its own and other cities' share of crime, and it should be reported, but only reported, not sensationalized.

[Gsxrnz]

So the 6 to 10 thousand hookers who are all criminals has nothing to do with this cess pits image ? prostitution is illegal thats why its called the land of smiles.

You're way off - more like 30,000

[i claudius]

It has now been decided that the only way to clean up Pattays image is to close down all the newspapers and once a week the police and officials will write a report to be published to the worlds press ,omiting any thing bad that may have happened and pointing out only the good things ,this weeks first edition ,which ran to three whole paragraphs was a great sucess a spokesman said .

[Gsxrnz]

It has now been decided that the only way to clean up Pattays image is to close down all the newspapers and once a week the police and officials will write a report to be published to the worlds press ,omiting any thing bad that may have happened and pointing out only the good things ,this weeks first edition ,which ran to three whole paragraphs was a great sucess a spokesman said .

....and the first paragraph was dedicated to naming the 18 Officials that wanted to get their name in the paper.