Lets hope they enforce this in Chiang Mai as well.

Fine all the farmers that are burning their garden waist or rice fields .

This is a traffic police volounteers. Is long time they work in the station in Sukhunvit road and they check driving license and document at the check point there.

Dont blame and insult them....they do their best in their free time for serve the people...at the and they do something not just talk same as most insult them.

Saluti

I was wondering how long it would be until one of them rolled up making the standard "They are volunteers and helping people out of their sheer goodness" nonsense.

I saw the first guy again this evening near Marine Plaza pulling Thais motorcyclists over, with one Thai cop in tow.

Anyone who wants to help foreigners in Thailand should be applauded. If these so-called "police" want to be helpful, they don't need to be dressing in paramilitary uniforms. They could simply wear a certain coloured ball cap and T-shirt so they could easily be recognized in a crowd for any foreigner in distress or lost etc. It would be a great help and they would be much appreciated. But to dress like this and be giving traffic tickets or helping in arresting somebody is the lowest form of life(sorry to insult the amoeba). What a bunch of tossers. I'm actually embarrassed to be a Caucasian lest I be associated with them.

Why are they checking documents ?? Have they been empowered to do so?

As far as I know the Foreign Police Volunteers have no powers at all unless accompanied by a Thai policeman from whom they get their powers by proxy.

The Highway Police foreign volunteers and now the new Traffic Police foreign volunteers are considered by the relevant Thai police department as authorised personnel when on official duty and acting under the instructions of a Thai officer. Whether a Thai police officer needs to actually be there also is dependent upon the instructions for that day. This is the same for the Foreign Police Volunteers and the Foreign Tourist Police Assistants. They cannot actually arrest but they can detain even when alone and can take someone to a police station - but only when on those officially designated duties.

Got to be the door sun syndroym why any one would want to be a rent a cop for free even. Most of the time it looks like these guys never garnered respect by their piers so they think they can be special with a badge of authority. They have some type of tea money crackdown from 3rd & Pattayatai to com city. The tourist cops areuseless at com city. The Thai cops do well reeming anyone that blows it on parking on market days & the rent a cops just get in the way. Now on soi 8 police station the gentleman from the states that is a volunteer is a hell of a good man. He has helped me out a couple times & is good for foreigners as the Police superior like him & listen to his advise.

But I never dreamed of being a cop. I was a volunteer fireman a couple times..... but that is nice especially if your house was burning response to your pad is a top priority .

On my last visit to Germany I felt something was missing. Grandpa had told me about those hordes dressed in brown uniforms and stopping people in the street. But they were nowhere to be found. Just few traces of them: a few photos and documents. Difficult to find as you had to go to a museum. Gone were the days where they had those big parades or funny beating up parties. Thanks to the OP the mystery has been solved.

Grandpa is long gone but he would be glad to know that there is again a place in the world where you can be stopped by Germans in brown uniforms while driving down the road.

Seriously, some of those people should try and start thinking a little outside the box. But then, this is idle wishful thinking, obviously the advantages of being associated with such a prestigious institution like the Thai police force, one of the finest known, outweighs all other concerns. Who could blame them? Prominent Known Pattaya expats have demonstrated the benefits of such action.

The self-sacrificial attitude of those brown-shirts needs to be documented before claims about their benevolence can be accepted. Given the record of volunteers,so also previous posts further up, this will be an interesting exercise. Until then I take such statements as plain fiction deception.

Thanks to the OP for the timely warning

Volunteers in Thailand are doing something good for the country. Their are Thai and foreign volunteers and yes they are sanctioned by the police chief and all have an I.D. card signed by the chief.

mike2011, on 06 May 2014 - 13:14, said:

On my last visit to Germany I felt something was missing. Grandpa had told me about those hordes dressed in brown uniforms and stopping people in the street. But they were nowhere to be found. Just few traces of them: a few photos and documents. Difficult to find as you had to go to a museum. Gone were the days where they had those big parades or funny beating up parties. Thanks to the OP the mystery has been solved.

Grandpa is long gone but he would be glad to know that there is again a place in the world where you can be stopped by Germans in brown uniforms while driving down the road.

Seriously, some of those people should try and start thinking a little outside the box. But then, this is idle wishful thinking, obviously the advantages of being associated with such a prestigious institution like the Thai police force, one of the finest known, outweighs all other concerns. Who could blame them? Prominent Known Pattaya expats have demonstrated the benefits of such action.

The self-sacrificial attitude of those brown-shirts needs to be documented before claims about their benevolence can be accepted. Given the record of volunteers,so also previous posts further up, this will be an interesting exercise. Until then I take such statements as plain fiction deception.

Thanks to the OP for the timely warning

I personally don't mind the foreign traffic police. I drive normal and respect the law and if these guys can contribute to get the chaos on Pattaya's roads under control, I applause them. I hope their Thai partners pick up a few procedures from those volunteers.

I also don't mind all the other police volunteer groups, also the Walking Street guys are a bit on the "heavy-side". But still they do beach patrols and help people and certainly contribute to public safety.

What I do mind is abuse of such a position and there are few individuals that are well known allover town. They have their own agenda, abuse their position, threaten people and play big bully. Their foreign superiors must be aware of them and they should take immediate action and kick them off the force. They only hurt the good intention of all these volunteers giving their time for the public. MS>

Volunteers in Thailand are doing something good for the country. Their are Thai and foreign volunteers and yes they are sanctioned by the police chief and all have an I.D. card signed by the chief.

Something good? Please explain.

The "farang guy in uniform" from the 1st post was here yesterday morning again (market day) :

I stayed looking at him while waiting for a friend.

It seem his only job is to stop farangs on motorbikes and to fine them...

I have no idea why they were fined; most of them have an helmet. License? Papers?

At least Thai policemen indiscriminately stop Farang and Thai...

I m reading the news over the years and if my bad memory does not totally fool me I seem to remember a few or more incidents involving such volunteers and guns. I am distinctly aware of an ambulance chaser, calling himself journalist, who happens to be with that force and does at the same time some own business in filming victims and putting them on air/the web. I have personally seen a retired (?) pimp from Scandinavia doing what he best knows, yes, chasing working ladies on beach road. And the list goes on. I am confident that spending some time online would result in an impressive pile of documentation concerning how such people "help" the country and "contribute" to public safety (like assisting international fugitives in town).

Certainly, not all and perhaps even not the majority of volunteers are involved in such actions. However, frequency - should I say regularity? - of such incidents, the insistence with which such characters are kept on the force, and also the gravity of incidents, speak at times crimes, show that it is not a question of a few bad apples. There is a structural flaw in the idea. This is not peculiarly Thai. It is common with all vigilante and militia forces. Shady individuals and right-wing machos are attracted by the air of authority plus the economic advantages. Obviously, almost anyone can become a member given the local militia's record. The remark that local policemen supervise these fine men, well, we are all more than re-assured now. While I fully believe such arguments, I am sorry, I wont change your $ 25 bill into baht.

I can understand that some volunteers feel misunderstood. I do not doubt that some guys are really believing their own rhetoric and act on it. As for myself, when in Pattaya I avoid locations where these brown, black or whatever shirts hangout. For me they are not much more than another sort of Pattaya farang preying on others. This will do injustice to some but the record speaks for itself. If someone is unhappy, the solution is to get back into a clean shirt.

Never made it to the real police or army (though I am sure half of them will claim they are ex special forces) and now living the wet dream in Pattaya.

I don't need help, thank you.

Volunteers in Thailand are doing something good for the country. Their are Thai and foreign volunteers and yes they are sanctioned by the police chief and all have an I.D. card signed by the chief.

mike2011, on 06 May 2014 - 13:14, said:

On my last visit to Germany I felt something was missing. Grandpa had told me about those hordes dressed in brown uniforms and stopping people in the street. But they were nowhere to be found. Just few traces of them: a few photos and documents. Difficult to find as you had to go to a museum. Gone were the days where they had those big parades or funny beating up parties. Thanks to the OP the mystery has been solved.

Grandpa is long gone but he would be glad to know that there is again a place in the world where you can be stopped by Germans in brown uniforms while driving down the road.

Seriously, some of those people should try and start thinking a little outside the box. But then, this is idle wishful thinking, obviously the advantages of being associated with such a prestigious institution like the Thai police force, one of the finest known, outweighs all other concerns. Who could blame them? Prominent Known Pattaya expats have demonstrated the benefits of such action.

The self-sacrificial attitude of those brown-shirts needs to be documented before claims about their benevolence can be accepted. Given the record of volunteers,so also previous posts further up, this will be an interesting exercise. Until then I take such statements as plain fiction deception.

Thanks to the OP for the timely warning

Could you quantify that utter lie?

So how is it with the actual juridical situation with this foreign police volunteers..... Can they fine you for traffic and other violations ??

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

You would be a fool to even stop for them or give them a minute of your time. You run a larger risk of them being fake than you do real. I will consider them frauds until I see something official otherwise, and riding with a Thai who is also in a uniform that can be bought at 100 shops around town doesn't count. Even then, if they are real, I would still ignore them. Tossers.

Reminds me... what happened to that fake SWAT Team in Pattaya?

So how is it with the actual juridical situation with this foreign police volunteers..... Can they fine you for traffic and other violations ??

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

You would be a fool to even stop for them or give them a minute of your time. You run a larger risk of them being fake than you do real. I will consider them frauds until I see something official otherwise, and riding with a Thai who is also in a uniform that can be bought at 100 shops around town doesn't count. Even then, if they are real, I would still ignore them. Tossers.

I personally know of a fake tourist policeman, he wears the shirt saying they are your best friend and carries fake ID, I have mentioned it to the group he claims to belong to in Walking St several times but for some reason they think its humorous and wave me off

Haven't been to Pattaya for years but around 8 or 9 years ago there was a definite undercurrent of menace from the volunteers. Seems they have been promoted to full uniform status. Never had any dealings with them but knew Walking Street Howard in passing and used to nod. Whatever possesses them to do the job I will never know,

Why can't the Thais establish a well trained traffic control police department? It would pay for itself. Soi Boaukao during most of the day is complete mayhem with cars parking left and right, nutty drivers racing down the road and worse. Enforcement is needed and eventually people would start behaving like humans, maybe. Why not let some foreigners set up and run the show, obviously the Thais can not handle it themselves.

I agree with the majority that some of the volunteers must have some kind of personality problems, but there are many of them who really try to help and do something positive. First step would be to get rid off the few really bad ones in TPV & FPV. They are well known!!! The leaders should make an example of this and a black-list MUST be circulated and updated with the many different agencies. There is a couple of guys with these groups who really abuse their uniforms and ID's. One or 2 guys are notorious and known to most residents. It is a small community and a call from 1 leader to the next should do the trick fast. Expose them as fools and psychos and send them off! This will serve as an example and benefit the majority of good cops.

Walking Street presence should be reduced, more patrols could be done allover town and use another location to meet and report. It leaves a bad taste if you see 20+ dark cops at a small attraction like Walking-Street. Just copy other countries community policing. Why are there no patrols in the Bouakao area? Certainly not a "classier" location than W. Str.!

I can see immediate improvement when the TPV do beach-check-ups.

A difficult subject in a very difficult countrywith many sides to it. Have a nice day. MS>

The R.Thai Police Force is a business, not a service (same as it is here in Malaysia). This is a well known fact.

Foreigners encouraged (or those who simply step forward) to have "a go" are there for 2 reasons = their own personnel ego or to contribute to the swelling of pockets (not that they will see any of that). They are a fool to themselves if they believe they can make a difference.

(Why is the Jet Ski Extortion allowed to exist?)

This same guy was stopping only Farangs and refused my French original driving license. However he took my original and now I have no more driving license, how it can go to banglamung pass the test? This guy seems to be a perfect jerk and creates more problems than anything else here...

This same guy was stopping only Farangs and refused my French original driving license. However he took my original and now I have no more driving license, how it can go to banglamung pass the test? This guy seems to be a perfect jerk and creates more problems than anything else here...

Did you have a International Driving Permit ? This is the document you must show them, mainly when your country license is not in English. As a French, I remind you IDP is mandatory to drive in Thailand. (as long as you don't have a Thai License)

Why do you let him keep your original permit ? You should have call a policeman, a true one, a Thai one.

They should all be ashamed of themselves, taking jobs away from good Thai citizens.

Plenty of Thais can do this job, you don’t need to be national of a country to talk theat language.

Also very embarrassing to see them stoop so low, cant they just do normal things in Thailand like the rest of us.,

Bunch of drop kicks

This same guy was stopping only Farangs and refused my French original driving license. However he took my original and now I have no more driving license, how it can go to banglamung pass the test? This guy seems to be a perfect jerk and creates more problems than anything else here...

Go to the police station and make a complaint about him stealing your driving license, if it happened as you say

You guys are IDIOTS if you stop for a farang in uniform while on your bike. He only has authority if you give it to him. There is a 99% chance they are frauds anyway, thus you are an idiot for stopping for them, especially if they are not standing right next to the Thai police (a group of them). Too many fake police in Pattaya to trust guys like this. No way, no how.

By the way, the army is cleaning house in Phuket now. Even the mayor was arrested. I won't be surprised if Pattaya goes the same way soon, as it is just as much a mess as Phuket is. Looking forward to reading those headlines.

By the way, the army is cleaning house in Phuket now. Even the mayor was arrested. I won't be surprised if Pattaya goes the same way soon, as it is just as much a mess as Phuket is. Looking forward to reading those headlines.

Yeah i was wondering if the head honchos at city hall were feeling their <deleted> start to twitch lately!

By the way, the army is cleaning house in Phuket now. Even the mayor was arrested. I won't be surprised if Pattaya goes the same way soon, as it is just as much a mess as Phuket is. Looking forward to reading those headlines.

Yeah i was wondering if the head honchos at city hall were feeling their <deleted> start to twitch lately!

I'm sure the flights to Singapore have been full the past few days.

Did you have a International Driving Permit ? This is the document you must show them, mainly when your country license is not in English. As a French, I remind you IDP is mandatory to drive in Thailand. (as long as you don't have a Thai License)

As i understand it all ASEAN country driving licences are valid in all member countries,eg A philippine or vietnamese licence is ok in Thailand

I think a 5 year license is, looked into this earlier this year.