Security System To Be Operated To Prevent Student Brawls

[Jai Dee]

An IT security system will be operated to prevent student brawls.

The Office of the Vocational Education Commission (OVAC) and some public and private agencies will jointly operate an IT security system designed to prevent student brawls in Bangkok.

OVAC secretary-general Weerasak Wongsombat (วีระศักดิ์ วงษ์สมบัติ) said the system works by installing surveillance cameras which will send signals to receivers at his agency and participating vocational training schools when a student violence occurs. The signals will then be transmitted to mobile telephones, televisions and computers of police, teachers and school managements so they can act immediately in ending the fight, Mr. Weerasak said.

He said the cameras will first be installed permanently at 6 locations known as risk areas and also in 10 mobile units. The system is being operated on trial in a Ram Intra (รามอินทรา) area, he said.

Student brawls, which some time resulted in several deaths, were caused by rivalries among different vocational training schools. Mr. Weerasak said schools in four zones, namely, Thon Buri, Jatujak, the Victory Monument and Min Buri will also implement measures to prevent their students attacking rivals.

OVAC planned to operate the system in all vocational training schools nationwide in the future, particularly in southern provinces, he said.

Source: Thai National News Bureau Public Relations Department - 24 May 2006

[ColPyat]

The signals will then be transmitted to mobile telephones, televisions and computers of police, teachers and school managements so they can act immediately in ending the fight, Mr. Weerasak said.

Not exactly.

Teachers know better not to try to break up those fights, and generally police waits until the fights have finished before picking up what is left. Those fights usually are brutal to the extreme, main weapons are machetes, iron bars, ping pong ball granades, and at times guns as well, especially during assaults in the busses along the routes at those vocational schools.

I guess though the cameras might help later on in the courts.

Anyhow, i wonder what the 'there-is-no-violence-in-Thailand-crowd' has to say about this article?

[Chang_paarp]

OVAC secretary-general Weerasak Wongsombat (วีระศักดิ์ วงษ์สมบัติ) said the system works by installing surveillance cameras which will send signals to receivers at his agency and participating vocational training schools when a student violence occurs. The signals will then be transmitted to mobile telephones, televisions and computers of police, teachers and school managements so they can act immediately in ending the fight, Mr. Weerasak said.

The notification by mobile will work well as it is during the peak time just after school when the system is under most load.

[Scott]

So now we have two things that shouldn't occur between 5 - 10 p.m.-- Tsunamis and fights!

Oh, and I hope they have good lighting around the cameras, since most of the trouble occurs after sunset and the cameras aren't going to be very helpful in identifying people in the dark.

[astral]

I expect the students will be bright enough to change the venue,

once they realise it is being watched. Good of the authorities to tell them in advance.

Why not initiate more activities to bring the schools together in friendship?

Then serious penalties for the students and their parents are needed to wipe out this pernicious behaviour.

[penzman]

I expect the students will be bright enough to change the venue,

once they realise it is being watched. Good of the authorities to tell them in advance.

Why not initiate more activities to bring the schools together in friendship?

Then serious penalties for the students and their parents are needed to wipe out this pernicious behaviour.

Exactly.

Where does this rivalry originate from?

I had never heard of anything like this before moving to Thailand.

[Chang_paarp]

I expect the students will be bright enough to change the venue,

once they realise it is being watched. Good of the authorities to tell them in advance.

Why not initiate more activities to bring the schools together in friendship?

Then serious penalties for the students and their parents are needed to wipe out this pernicious behaviour.

What do you sugest? Debating cmpetitions? spelling bees? chess games? or possibly an origami demonstration?

I would not like to be the referee in any football match or a basketball game.

Some sort of martial art competition would be good but again controlling the mob would be the challenge.

[ColPyat]

Some sort of martial art competition would be good but again controlling the mob would be the challenge.

Those mobs can be rather large as well. Remember a few years ago the rioting at Lumphini?

I have seen a couple of years ago one such mob after a concert at Central Pinklao - a few thousand of them moving down the road, shots being fired, smal groups beating the shit out of each other - in bright <deleted> daylight!

Cops didn't do anything else than herding them into a different police district.

The wife several times had to espape from a bus because students from rival schools got into a barney in the bus and started shooting each other. Lovely...

[Diablo Bob]

"Anyhow, i wonder what the 'there-is-no-violence-in-Thailand-crowd' has to say about this article?"

I don't think any of us said there was no violence in Thailand Reverend ColPyat, we just don't agree with your DOOM & GLOOM assessment.

Reverand ColPyat, IF I was to actually believe your sermons on YOUR mount, I would electrify the perimeter of my house and hire Gurkha Guards to protect my family.

No Reverend, we know there is violence, but well, I have more important things to worry about and the violence doesn't keep me awake at night........

Edited May 25, 2006 by Diablo Bob

[ColPyat]

No Reverend, we know there is violence, but well, I have more important things to worry about and the violence doesn't keep me awake at night........

Good for you.

I just hope that one day reality won't infringe into your sleep.

Shit has a tendency to happen, especially if one is a bit blase.

[penzman]

I expect the students will be bright enough to change the venue,

once they realise it is being watched. Good of the authorities to tell them in advance.

Why not initiate more activities to bring the schools together in friendship?

Then serious penalties for the students and their parents are needed to wipe out this pernicious behaviour.

What do you sugest? Debating cmpetitions? spelling bees? chess games? or possibly an origami demonstration?

I would not like to be the referee in any football match or a basketball game.

Some sort of martial art competition would be good but again controlling the mob would be the challenge.

How about criminal charges and expelling any gang members for a couple of years from the school system. If you really love fighting, drop out and join the nearest muay thai boxing school and leave your seat for more serious students.

[tettyan]

"Anyhow, i wonder what the 'there-is-no-violence-in-Thailand-crowd' has to say about this article?"

I don't think any of us said there was no violence in Thailand Reverend ColPyat, we just don't agree with your DOOM & GLOOM assessment.

Reverand ColPyat, IF I was to actually believe your sermons on YOUR mount, I would electrify the perimeter of my house and hire Gurkha Guards to protect my family.

No Reverend, we know there is violence, but well, I have more important things to worry about and the violence doesn't keep me awake at night........

I don't know if ColPyat's comment was directed at you directly. No one ever said that there was no violence in Bangkok, but plenty did insist that it's safer than cities in the developed countries they hail from. I've lived in several different big cities, and I don't know of machete fights happening there on a regular basis!

[ColPyat]

How about criminal charges and expelling any gang members for a couple of years from the school system. If you really love fighting, drop out and join the nearest muay thai boxing school and leave your seat for more serious students.

That's the old catch 22: pushed in the underground things will be even worse.

Which actually has happened. The vocational school problems are not as big anymore as the street gang problems. In the last few years the street gangs have exploded in many districts in Bangkok and surrounding provinces such as Samut Prakan.

The brutality in which their battles are fought is beyond believe. Favorite weapons are swords and machetes. The wounds those leave are gruesome - i have seen 15, 16 year old kids with hacked off hands and split skulls. A distant neview of mine has been killed last year during a gang attack with a machete.

Police in those districts is absolutely overwhelmed with the huge amount of gang kids.

Muay Thai schools will definately not take those gang kids. For Muay Thai you need highly disciplined kids, who have trained from childhood onwards, who will only box in the ring. Most Kai Muay expell fighters if they have trouble outside. Getting accepted in a Kai Muay is a high honor and not a reservoir for streetfighters here.

Edited May 25, 2006 by ColPyat

[penzman]

The muay thai thing was just a bit of irony from my part.

This country has a massive police force , not including the army. There should then be zero tolerance towards gangs. If it can be done with hel_l's Angels and the likes, surely wiping out gangs or at least monitor and choke their activities closely can be achieved to a certain point ( By wiping out, I don't mean the "drug war" way). Too much tolerance and procrastination from the authorities has let this problem grow over the years (just look at millions of road infractions that go unchecked/unpunished daily). If the problem can't be tackled, flush out the brass as they do down South, after all, there is just as much violence up here but without the frequent bombings.

It is even tolerated to a point to walk around with clothing that says " POLICE ", FBI on your back windshield, which you would not see in western countries. This is one of many examples of the mai pen rai attitude that needs to be changed within the police force. Enough with the showcases and parades for the tv cameras along with the criminal with ya ba pills on the table, how much time is wasted preparing those "events"?. Back behind your desks boys in brown and get it done!

One thing I wanted to add. Acts of violence happening without police intervention even though they are present. People protesting outside the EC's offices, attacked by pro EC protesters any arests? No. Democrat rally in Chiang mai disrupted with acts of violence, any arrests? No. Wedding party I've witnessed, groom punches bride's sister's light's out, policemen in uniform sitting at a table, stand up smiling to get a better view. Bride's sister is knocked out cold and laid in the back of a pick-up truck, policement go back to their table, smiling. Did they intervene? No. Motorcycle taxis showing up at Sondhi's offices, end up throwing water bottles at people shouting at them to leave. Police intervention? No.

Do they actually wait and only rely on orders eventually, maybe, from above in order to intervene in violent situations?

Edited May 25, 2006 by penzman

[ColPyat]

The muay thai thing was just a bit of irony from my part.

This country has a massive police force , not including the army. There should then be zero tolerance towards gangs.

It's not so easy, hel_l's Angels were always an elitist club, with worldwide not more than around 4000 full members.

Gangs here are a bit different. There is no organised structure, no fancy names, no uniform. Just kids who grew up together, live in the same Mu Ban, the 'puac' structure. Police can only investigate and arrest when there has been a crime committed, but that only goes so far. Police does have gang files, does observe particular nasty ones, but that does not stop much.

Lets see for example the illegal motorcycle races. They do pose a real problem. You got hundreds of kids blocking roads and racing. What can the cops do? Once a while they manage to execute a plan to arrest lots of them in one go, but that works rarely as this gets often leaked, mostly through one of the many police volonteers without whom the police would not be able to function.

In normal situations the cops can't do much else than just carefully send them off the roads, dispurse them into sidealleys. The motorcycles of the kids are faster than even the police cars, and real chases could lead easily to nasty accidents. Shoot them? Would all be excessive force.

The underlying conditions for those gang structures only politics can solve. But as long as all politicians are more busy enriching themselves and fighting their powergames, i fear that not much can be done.

Villages have to be revitalised somehow, a long overdue land reform has to be done and no only promised. Industry has to be decentralised, so that people can stay in, or near their homes and find work there, instead of having to migrate to the few industrial centers where they have to life in slums and depressing suburban housing projects that are breeding ground for violence.

[Plus]

Hmm, the original idea to install surveilance system is just a way to use the budget, like fingerprint reading software for teachers in some schools. It doesn't correlate to alleged rise gang violence in any way.

Perfect example is the new drug war declared by Thaksin. He said it's getting out of control again, yet statistics from the government anti-narcotic agency published in The Nation today show the opposite. The number of drug related crime decreased from last year, and stands at about a quarter from 2002, pre-war levels.

If Office of Vocational Education has decided to spend money on some spanky high tech system it doesn't mean crime rates are up.

[astral]

I had never heard of anything like this before moving to Thailand.

It may be an Asian phenomenon.

I have observed it first hand in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Boys in early teens wealding long sticks, knives and belts with large heavy buckles.

Quite scary.

[astral]

OVAC planned to operate the system in all vocational training schools nationwide in the future, particularly in southern provinces, he said.

I missed this line the first time I read the article.

Is there a hidden agenda here??