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

[steveyinasia]

Are these guys serious, once again they have NMF disease....Not My Fault.

[JetsetBkk]

Just waiting for Phuket administration to come up with the same press conference...

[wwex]

I suspect what they mean is that they have managed to get the Thai media not to report on the scams and if only the english media did the same they then it would all be fine, just saw another jetski scam today so their claim that it has stopped now is rather exaggerated to say the least

[stoli]

Its always easier to blame others when you are incompetent .... The medias just tell the truth , on the other hand police and politicians do their best to avoid too much bad publicity.

No matter what you think of the police and the politicians, please do not ever believe that the media "tells the truth". Today they mainly sit in their office, reporting whatever crap that someone just phoned into them as a "reliable source". They are writers today, and verify the truthfulness of nothing. Headlines sell newspapers, not facts.

[Colabamumbai]

Clean up the criminals, for a clean image. Too little too late. Pattaya was a nice place 40 years ago. The very few who did visit had respect for Thailand, and for Pattaya also.

I could be wrong but those of who visited 40 years ago probalby have no interest whatsoever in Pattaya today.

Not a place you recommend to friends.

[NeverToReturn]

Phuket which is very similar to Pattaya doesnt suffer from the shady image around the globe that Pattaya has.

More bad press for Phuket may help their cause.

[Orac]

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 .

Don't forget the three pages showing the major shaking hands with various people (a whole page for Niels Colov of course).

[Rimmer]

One post with a link to a commercial blog site removed

[EyesWideOpen]

I think a mistake was made by the editors of this story. Here let me fix it.

Original;

"Politicians, police blame media for Pattayas criminal image"

Fixed:

"Politicians and police inaction are to blame for Pattayas criminal image"

[lemoncake]

When the Police only shakedown tourists riding bikes, then you know something is afoot.

My mate on holiday here has been pulled up every single day that he has been here.

We drove out to the darkside last night and the police had a roadblock to do searches on bikes (I assume for illegal substances)... My mate got pulled up again and as he slowed down to stop, the police saw he was a farang and shooed him past.... Again I assume the Police saw no need to shakedown someone on holiday as they (The Police) had a legitimate task to carry out as opposed to anywhere, beach side of Sukhumvit....

Respect to those police doing their job...

Shame on those exploiting the tourist dollar!

Does your mate have a valid license ? I am almost certain the answer is a NO.

So you upset police pull him over for riding illegally?

[EyesWideOpen]

When the Police only shakedown tourists riding bikes, then you know something is afoot.

My mate on holiday here has been pulled up every single day that he has been here.

We drove out to the darkside last night and the police had a roadblock to do searches on bikes (I assume for illegal substances)... My mate got pulled up again and as he slowed down to stop, the police saw he was a farang and shooed him past.... Again I assume the Police saw no need to shakedown someone on holiday as they (The Police) had a legitimate task to carry out as opposed to anywhere, beach side of Sukhumvit....

Respect to those police doing their job...

Shame on those exploiting the tourist dollar!

Does your mate have a valid license ? I am almost certain the answer is a NO.

So you upset police pull him over for riding illegally?

A foreign license is valid here for 30 days. If you stay longer than that you must get a Thai license. If the Thai police are fining tourists here for the first time because they are on a rental bike without a Thai license, that is illegal and a straight out scam...

The Pattaya police used to run a big checkpoint at the top of Thappaya hill, complete with a table for rapid on the spot payments. They pulled over a Swedish couple on a rental bike and ran the license scam. The guy was so upset he was screaming at the policeman, and saying he would never ever set foot in Thailand again. So 300 baht for the police, and many thousands of baht that Thai business people will never get to see... Shortsightedness done to perfection !!!

Edited August 11, 2013 by EyesWideOpen

[LennyW]

When the Police only shakedown tourists riding bikes, then you know something is afoot.

My mate on holiday here has been pulled up every single day that he has been here.

 

We drove out to the darkside last night and the police had a roadblock to do searches on bikes (I assume for illegal substances)... My mate got pulled up again and as he slowed down to stop, the police saw he was a farang and shooed him past.... Again I assume the Police saw no need to shakedown someone on holiday as they (The Police)  had a legitimate task to carry out as opposed to anywhere, beach side of Sukhumvit....

 

Respect to those police doing their job...

Shame on those exploiting the tourist dollar!

Does your mate have a valid license ? I am almost certain the answer is a NO.

So you upset police pull him over for riding illegally?

A foreign license is valid here for 30 days. If you stay longer than that you must get a Thai license. If the Thai police are fining tourists here for the first time because they are on a rental bike without a Thai license, that is illegal and a straight out scam...

The Pattaya police used to run a big checkpoint at the top of Thappaya hill, complete with a table for rapid on the spot payments. They pulled over a Swedish couple on a rental bike and ran the license scam. The guy was so upset he was screaming at the policeman, and saying he would never ever set foot in Thailand again. So 300 baht for the police, and many thousands of baht that Thai business people will never get to see... Shortsightedness done to perfection !!!

"A foreign licence is valid here for 30 days" - NO IT IS NOT!! In what bar did you hear that gem?

Sent from my GT-N7100 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[EyesWideOpen]

When the Police only shakedown tourists riding bikes, then you know something is afoot.

My mate on holiday here has been pulled up every single day that he has been here.

We drove out to the darkside last night and the police had a roadblock to do searches on bikes (I assume for illegal substances)... My mate got pulled up again and as he slowed down to stop, the police saw he was a farang and shooed him past.... Again I assume the Police saw no need to shakedown someone on holiday as they (The Police) had a legitimate task to carry out as opposed to anywhere, beach side of Sukhumvit....

Respect to those police doing their job...

Shame on those exploiting the tourist dollar!

Does your mate have a valid license ? I am almost certain the answer is a NO.

So you upset police pull him over for riding illegally?

A foreign license is valid here for 30 days. If you stay longer than that you must get a Thai license. If the Thai police are fining tourists here for the first time because they are on a rental bike without a Thai license, that is illegal and a straight out scam...

The Pattaya police used to run a big checkpoint at the top of Thappaya hill, complete with a table for rapid on the spot payments. They pulled over a Swedish couple on a rental bike and ran the license scam. The guy was so upset he was screaming at the policeman, and saying he would never ever set foot in Thailand again. So 300 baht for the police, and many thousands of baht that Thai business people will never get to see... Shortsightedness done to perfection !!!

"A foreign licence is valid here for 30 days" - NO IT IS NOT!! In what bar did you hear that gem?

Sent from my GT-N7100 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

I do not get my information in a bar, perhaps you do which of course would be why you made the comment. . Hey about using TV ?

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/637629-valid-international-drivers-license-to-rent-car-or-motorbike/

From the Thailand motoring act of 1979:

"Section 42-2

In case there's a treaty between the Thai government and a foreign government regarding mutual acceptance of driver's license, an alien who doesn't have an immigrant visa may drive a motor vehicle with a driver's license issued by such a foreign government, or an automobile association authorized by such a foreign government."

This makes perfect sense with having reciprocal agreements. If you are a wealthy Thai traveling in America as a tourist, of course you would be able to simply rent a car and drive around on your Thai licence as a tourist. And the same agreement is granted to tourists in Thailand.

Regarding enforcement, like prostitution, application of laws here are generally fuzzy in order for the police to make the maximum amount o money. If foreign licences were not valid for short term tourists to rent vehicles with, then every single vehicle rental company in Thailand is breaking the law by allowing the tourist to drive off the lot with improper authority to drive on Thai roads..

[Ohio]

It is quite obvious that the Media are responsible in my view.

Street Shootings , Jet Ski Scams with assaults , Paedophiles using fake Police ID , Bashings , Chain Snatches & Bag Robberies , Knifings , Suicides , Demonstrations Red Shirt / Yellow Shirt etc etc.

Absolutely disgusting that the Media would feature any of this to besmirch the good Reputation of Pattaya.

Don't know how they can sleep at night after causing all this .

[Basil B]

One is forgetting the real persons responsible for Pattaya image as the Center of Excellence for Crime are the criminals and those who do nothing about them.

[Cuban]

One is forgetting the real persons responsible for Pattaya image as the Center of Excellence for Crime are the criminals and those who do nothing about them.

The paradox is that in some cases they might be the same individuals.