Top cop warns new officers over bribes, extortion

[DGIE]

nice Maj Gen Ong-art!

but the new officer will say, I did not bribe or extort. They voluntarily gave money to me...

[indyuk]

Dear Commissioner of Police please don't send Phuket's second hand policemen to Pattaya.

[SjaakNL2013]

“If you accept bribes or extort people, or do anything else illegal for financial gain, you will face not only disciplinary, but also criminal charges,” Maj Gen Ong-art said.

How long must we wait for the first will go wrong............

[hawker9000]

Since it is a public secret that these top cops pay millions of Baht to get the position in the tourist areas, I have a tendency to believe that he isn't serious when he says he want to expel bribes and extortion.

Could it be possible that this particular top cop did not pay for the position and instead he was put to the position to do a swipe on the corrupted police force?

We are getting large number of brand new BIB's to the island. Bangkok seems to be getting serious of the complaints and problems on the island (Thailand reputation and money flow).

The DSI has been working here for some months already. They don't seem to be leaving the island yet. Their boss put serious namings on the table when this all started. It has been quite different what we have seen here before.

I remember some years ago I was kiddingly hoping for the military to come here and clean the island of the wide corruption. Now we got DSI, which I suppose is the next best thing.

...all a toothless tiger until there are some actual smackdowns, where firing & significant hard time are the final answer, and not just the initial sentencing which gets reduced to nothing after the spotlight has moved on. New "top cops", "crackdowns", "support programs", grandiose public statements, new task forces & agencies, and station cleanliness inspections (lol) just don't mean a thing, most esp. when it comes to Phuket, where it's all already been done and everyone's heard it a hundred times before. Let the Indians, Russians, Chinese, and those who've already sunk their dough in the place, have it.

[casindonet]

Yup...he's right. Can't be having the juniors jumping que. They have to earn their rights to collect tea money....it's a culture thingy. Respect the elders.

Sent from my GT-I9200 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[yourauntbob]

seeing is believing

[hellodolly]

Could it be possible that this particular top cop did not pay for the position and instead he was put to the position to do a swipe on the corrupted police force?

We are getting large number of brand new BIB's to the island. Bangkok seems to be getting serious of the complaints and problems on the island (Thailand reputation and money flow).

The DSI has been working here for some months already. They don't seem to be leaving the island yet. Their boss put serious namings on the table when this all started. It has been quite different what we have seen here before.

I remember some years ago I was kiddingly hoping for the military to come here and clean the island of the wide corruption. Now we got DSI, which I suppose is the next best thing.

With all due respect I sincerely hope you are right.

You say the DSI is still there not exactly an encouraging thing as they cleaned up the taxi mafia at the airport and the next week it was back in the news. All they did was talk to the jet ski operators no charges made.

One can only hope the new BIB will change the situation. How ever it was just recently where they had to retest them for the entrance exam's into the police academy because of the massive cheating. Not exactly a hopeful sign.

I do how ever think that things will change not very fast but they will get better. I doubt that the news affects tourists from other countries. It certainly affects the local population and previous tourists to Phuket. I think hope they are as low as they are going to go.

Since it is a public secret that these top cops pay millions of Baht to get the position in the tourist areas, I have a tendency to believe that he isn't serious when he says he want to expel bribes and extortion.

"These Cops"? Please provide some examples. I'm confused about this "Public Secret"? Infomation, to my understanding can be one or the other. Please define Public Secret.

Opinion experts are plentiful. Finding one who has done the research and has the facts is indeed a challenge.

Most of the opinion experts are using rumors to form their opinions. They hear about one jet ski scam and immidiatley all of the over 200 jet ski operators are scammers.

“If you accept bribes or extort people, or do anything else illegal for financial gain, you will face not only disciplinary, but also criminal charges,” Maj Gen Ong-art said.

How long must we wait for the first will go wrong............

Now that is the question that should not take to long to answer. If he is for real there will be a string of them coming real soon.

One can hope but realize that the hope is not based on facts. They will take time to develop.

[kruangfaifar]

It is very disappointing yet totally predictable to see so many negative posts on this thread. Surely acknowledgment of a problem is one of the earliest steps to be taken in dealing with it and before you get on your high horses the Brits among you should remember (as I door Google Sir Kenneth Newman and look what he did to clean up the Metropolitan Polce in the 1980s. He also spoke out against Freemason membership amongst the police force. Back scratching between members is a form of corruption IMO and continues unchecked.. For Americans look up the origin of the word stool pidgeon or wonder whether residents of Chicago in the 30's ever thought that there would be an end to corruption. How many TV members break drink driving laws ( bearing in mind that the legal limit here is 0.05% BrAC compared to US where it is 0.08%) or other traffic laws in LoS because you know or believe that you can buy your way out of any trouble? (I just hope you guys don't kill anyone!). Personally I know that there won't be a significant impact on corruption in the police until they are paid a decent wage as they are in the West but I will never knock any police Chief or other official who speaks out against it

[harleyclarkey]

The top cop sits them down and gives a lecture about bribery and corruption.

The top cop in the cop shop, where they will be posted, will sit them down and give them a lecture about where this bribery and corruption will go.

The new guys look a decent enough lot and different Phuket would be if it just stopped at the first paragraph of my post.

[Sayonarax]

Was this after or before they paid there B300,000 joining fee?

[a99az]

Warning smoking kills. No matter how many warnings are given unless bent cops get thrown out the force and into nick it's a complete and utter waste of breath.

[hawker9000]

It is very disappointing yet totally predictable to see so many negative posts on this thread. Surely acknowledgment of a problem is one of the earliest steps to be taken in dealing with it and before you get on your high horses the Brits among you should remember (as I door Google Sir Kenneth Newman and look what he did to clean up the Metropolitan Polce in the 1980s. He also spoke out against Freemason membership amongst the police force. Back scratching between members is a form of corruption IMO and continues unchecked.. For Americans look up the origin of the word stool pidgeon or wonder whether residents of Chicago in the 30's ever thought that there would be an end to corruption. How many TV members break drink driving laws ( bearing in mind that the legal limit here is 0.05% BrAC compared to US where it is 0.08%) or other traffic laws in LoS because you know or believe that you can buy your way out of any trouble? (I just hope you guys don't kill anyone!). Personally I know that there won't be a significant impact on corruption in the police until they are paid a decent wage as they are in the West but I will never knock any

police Chief or other official who speaks out against it

...except when the "acknowledgement" is nothing more than an attempt to deflect and placate public disapproval and outrage! As I said earlier, it's all been heard a hundred times in Phuket. It's down to action and RESULTS. The rest is just more hot air.

[spidermike007]

Talk is very, very cheap. Let us see if any are really arrested, and then if so, are they tried? And if so, are they convicted? And if so, anything more than a 500 baht fine, and a suspended sentence? The Thai courts are some of the weakest in the world. The judges do not have any courage. So, even if this cop is serious, which we all doubt, can anything be done without serious reform of the system first?

mike macarelli

chaiyaphum, thailand

[socksy01]

More b******t from the BIB hierarchy.

In the picture you can see them being trained.

"If I hold my hat like this it will cover my hands when you pass me the brown envelope"

[lemoncake]

They all look disappointed.

Would not you be if you had just wasted time to become a cop "without pay" when they could have become Tuk Tuk drivers or jet ski renters

[mok199]

young and dumb...the ''big show''.................................................................................

[newermonkey]

They all look very very disappointed. I wonder why?

[gp2002]

"Remember rookies.......I receive 50% of whatever you extort so make sure it can be easily divided by two as I am unable to make change."