Mother of missing child urges Thai police to be more attentive

[webfact]

Mother of missing child urges police to be more attentive
The Nation

BANGKOK: -- A mother whose child went missing in Saraburi four years ago is calling on the police to pay more attention to cases related to missing children.

Manee Thongchum, whose daughter Jeerapat "Gigi" Thongchum was reportedly abducted in Saraburi's Kaeng Khoi district on September 17, 2010, and has yet to be found, said she welcomed the request by Thai police for the US Federal Bureau of Investigation to help with such cases.

"This training [with the FBI] is good for families whose children have gone missing because it should help the police do better in bringing the missing children back home," she said.

Manee also said an agency directly in charge of missing-children cases should be linked up with police stations nationwide, in the same way agencies in charge of hunting down stolen motorcycles and cars are.

"It should be possible to share information on missing children. It would be even better if the information on missing children could be shared on people's mobile phones. If we did not have the Mirror Foundation, nobody would even know about missing children."

However, she acknowledged that police nowadays appeared to be more alert about missing children compared with three years ago.

"I understand that the police have a lot to be responsible for, but at least when little children go missing, they should pay extra attention. Today it might be another person's child that is affected, tomorrow it could be yours."

She also called on the police force to pay equal attention to high-profile cases and those of ordinary citizens.


-- The Nation 2014-04-17

[kurnell]

Sadly cops in this country are only motivated by money.

[noitom]

Too bad the FBI training at US taxpayer expense is wasted on Thai police who never advance and only dwell on what's in it for me.

[djvolak]

Not to be mean, but if Mom had been more attentive in the first place. Daughter would still be home. Trust no one around your kids. Know where they are and who they are with. Teach them not to just go off with anyone, ever.

[chainarong]

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Not to be mean, but if Mom had been more attentive in the first place. Daughter would still be home. Trust no one around your kids. Know where they are and who they are with. Teach them not to just go off with anyone, ever.

I think in this case you are not mean, just stating facts and you are right , however Thai people are not renowned for being as I will put it , worldly.

[MAMMartin]

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Not to be mean, but if Mom had been more attentive in the first place. Daughter would still be home. Trust no one around your kids. Know where they are and who they are with. Teach them not to just go off with anyone, ever.

I think in this case you are not mean, just stating facts and you are right , however Thai people are not renowned for being as I will put it , worldly.

Nope you're not being mean - what you're being would probably get me banned if I typed it. Holier than thou attitude judging situations that you know little or nothing about. Kids can be snatched from right in front of their parents and have been - but you two want to blame the parents.

Why don't you blame the people that snatched the kids? Because it's easier to blame the parents as they are known rather than the perpetrators. It's the easy target for trolls such as you two.

Shame on you and your comments!

[JeremyBowskill]

Not to be mean, but if Mom had been more attentive in the first place. Daughter would still be home. Trust no one around your kids. Know where they are and who they are with. Teach them not to just go off with anyone, ever.

Think that's a bit on the harsh side. Don't see anything in this article that would allow you to judge the abduction 1 way or the other.

[Thaiisnotrequired]

I recall an incident 20 years ago now, when I was in Majorca, at a time child snatching was rife in Europe. My 6 year old daughter, beautiful blonde, was in a shop with us, and my younger 3 year old I was carrying. My wife and I looked at a gift, and before I had turned around my daughter was gone. The incident was no more than 5 seconds, yet it was a very busy souvenir shop. I ran everywhere, frantic. You cannot know the feeling of having a lost child, and the very worst went through my mind. I ran up and down the street, in and out of every shop... I was a raging bull. I ran back to the original shop where my wife was, and nothing. I asked the shop owner to call the police. My wife went one way, I went the other.... 30 mins had gone by, and nothing. I suddenly remembered an older lady we had met the night before. We had gone back to her apartment, and gone for dinner, and returned to her apartment to sit at the pool and have a chilled evening, with the girls swimming in the pool. But that was 1Km away from where we shopped. I was an athlete in those days, and got there swiftly.... sure enough... there was my daughter, sitting with the old dear next to the pool, sipping orange juice. I ran and hugged her, and she didn't know what my furore was... she said she got lost, couldn't see us... but remembered the way to the lady's house. It could have been very different, but fortunately it was not.

How would anybody blame a parent for such an incident? Should we belt our kids to us when they can walk, up to the age of 16? Bizzare! It was a pure 5 seconds of non-attention.... and nobody in the world can watch their child for every single second. To blame parents is courageless. The perpetrators who take kids for unwanton gains are the scum, and the Thai lady from Saraburi is correct in her assertions that the police need to do more!

[hgma]

When volunteering with the Mirror (art) foundation i was told that an average of 16.000 children vanish every year!!!!

16.000 children.

and still the 'sunday market' leaves scores of children on their own in an unprotected area while toddlers drift off parents are 'lost in bargains'

I will nevern get used to it.never.

[MMarlow]

Sadly cops in this country are only motivated by money.

Sadly some posts are hideously hackneyed and unoriginal.

[Loles]

Sadly cops in this country are only motivated by money.

.... and motivated by high so families. Very sad to see when a poor child is missing no-one care, but if a high so child gets anything small uncomfortable, like Yingluck's boy those whistles blowing, this a big scandal. Awful.

[MMarlow]

Not to be mean, but if Mom had been more attentive in the first place. Daughter would still be home. Trust no one around your kids. Know where they are and who they are with. Teach them not to just go off with anyone, ever.

You're not being "mean" if you know the circumstances of the child's disappearance, if you don't know what happened then your comments are insulting and offensive to the mother.

[MMarlow]

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<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

Not to be mean, but if Mom had been more attentive in the first place. Daughter would still be home. Trust no one around your kids. Know where they are and who they are with. Teach them not to just go off with anyone, ever.

I think in this case you are not mean, just stating facts and you are right , however Thai people are not renowned for being as I will put it , worldly.

Nope you're not being mean - what you're being would probably get me banned if I typed it. Holier than thou attitude judging situations that you know little or nothing about. Kids can be snatched from right in front of their parents and have been - but you two want to blame the parents.

Why don't you blame the people that snatched the kids? Because it's easier to blame the parents as they are known rather than the perpetrators. It's the easy target for trolls such as you two.

Shame on you and your comments!

Agree 100%.

[MMarlow]

Sadly cops in this country are only motivated by money.

.... and motivated by high so families. Very sad to see when a poor child is missing no-one care, but if a high so child gets anything small uncomfortable, like Yingluck's boy those whistles blowing, this a big scandal. Awful.

Who said nobody cares when a child goes missing? And I think you'll find that the police were not involved in the purported incident you mention. So your dig at the RTP is unwarranted.

[belg]

that poor little girl is probalby enslaved by another thai family

[kuiburi]

Police should start with specialized teams for missing persons , and get people involved that do there job with heart and soul .

Get public awareness on the cases on TV , instead of useless soaps .

[Greg Nixon]

Missing children ? The police cannot even stop people from driving without a helmet or proper registration. How could they be expected to do any real policing like finding missing children ?

[kurnell]

Sadly cops in this country are only motivated by money.

Sadly some posts are hideously hackneyed and unoriginal.

Really, can you give me some examples?

[Maggusoil]

There were three children taken from a rice field they were playing in together last year up my way.

I had wondered why there was a police car stationary on the road because we never see that in the area.

Part of the reason the car was stationary, was the cop was asleep. .

So much for enthusiasm

or was it resignation?

I am consistently harping on about this re our children and relatives

At least it has worked on the children. They are more careful than the adults

As many posters have pointed out. We can all be very careful, but its difficult to keep tabs on a mobile child all of the time.

It only takes a second for an opportunist in a van to whisk a child off the street. . . Its a terrible thought

I have the greatest sympathy for anyone that has had this happen

It must be terrible