Phuket Opinion: Clean up time for Tourist Police
Phuket Gazette -

Tourist Police officers have a golden opportunity to do some good for their communities. Photo: Gazette Graphics

PHUKET: A recent protest in Patong against alleged corruption by Tourist Police officers (story here) will likely go unnoticed nationally given the current state of affairs in the country, yet the issues the outcry raised offer valuable insight into the serious problems that confront us nationally, locally and individually.

The broader issue is how a democracy can function, let alone flourish, in the context of wide-scale corruption at every level of society. In Bangkok, self-styled whistle blowers are quick to cite corruption and cleverly brand it under the name “Shinawatra”.

Yet, for some reason, they seem more eager to engage in protest against the elusive “concept of corruption” than against those who actively take part in it, day-in and day-out, at the local level.

There are several aspects that make the protest against the Tourist Police in Patong more interesting than the ongoing demonstration in front of Phuket Provincial Hall.

The impromptu protest, against officers who allegedly extorted 20,000 baht from an Italian national they said was working without a permit, ended with the officers returning the money in exchange for a promise from the foreigner not to file a criminal complaint against them: case closed, back to business as usual.

A thorough investigation into this case, even if the injured party fails to lodge a criminal complaint, is of utmost importance.

There is little doubt that corruption is rampant throughout all branches of the national police force and that any real national reform will have to address this issue in a meaningful way. It is astonishing that corruption in the criminal justice system has so seldom entered into the current debate.

For an agency that has protection of foreigners as its stated primary objective, the Tourist Police have a somewhat checkered track record.

In 2006, some of their members orchestrated the arrest of 12 visa runners in Ranong for overstaying their permits-to-stay by just a few days.

Other more recent issues that have damaged the agency’s reputation include the arrest of one of its former foreign volunteers on drug charges , its lack of patrols in popular tourist destinations , poor to non-existent foreign language skills and even a reported failure to pick up the phone when people call its emergency hotline number, 1155 .

Helping out a stranger in distress is one of the most gratifying acts one can experience, and Tourist Police officers are fortunate to be in the unique position to do this as part of their daily routine. Officers tempted to go down the greedy “dark road” should consider the karmic implications of failing to take advantage of the golden opportunity they have been handed.

Source: http://www.phuketgazette.net/phuket_news/2014/Phuket-Opinion-Clean-up-time-for-Tourist-Police-25595.html

-- Phuket Gazette 2014-02-16

Removed a troll post.

Everyone who comes in contact with tourists (especially police) are a representatives of Thailand and can create either a favorable or unfavorable image of their country. What other people think about Thailand does matter. Statistic rule of thumb is that one negative story will be heard by 20 people. I always ask, "Would their actions make the King proud?

Waste of money, all done to make face, not to stop crime......

Looks like I need a new dealer now.

Looks like I need a new dealer now.

as long as 'they' exist, you should have no worries

This almost genetically embedded obsession with "face", all but enshrined in anti-defamation laws, absolutely precludes anti-corruption efforts ever getting down to cases, which is of course exactly what needs to happen. So we might as well forget it. It's that simple.