Traffic cops offered cash to turn down bribes

[Lite Beer]

Traffic cops offered cash to turn down bribes

By Coconuts Bangkok

BANGKOK: -- Pssst, hey officer, want to make some easy money? Just say “no” to that next bribe, and you could go home with a THB10,000 bonus from your superiors.

In a bid to make a dent in the endemic culture of police bribery, Bangkok’s top traffic cop announced officers will receive a cash bonus for arresting drivers who attempt to bribe them.

Read More: http://bangkok.coconuts.co/2014/10/07/traffic-police-entice-officers-not-take-bribes-cash-bonus

-- Coconuts Bangkok 2014-10-07

[halloween]

Hey BIB, want some fast money. Accuse a farang of offering a bribe.

[baboon]

Bribed to refuse bribes. There's logic for you...

[daveAustin]

Hang on, isn't it normally the police officer that initiates the bribe?

[Basil B]

WARNING...

Do not keep you driving licence in your wallet.

[Snig27]

Why not simply arrest the cops who take a bribe? Or would that leave us with no cops?

[EyesWideOpen]

God I love this place !!!!! So far out of sync from reality sometimes I feel
I am on another planet...... But always amusing. :-) Pay bribes to not

receive bribes. You could not possibility make this stuff up...

[jabis]

Never saw this coming

[casualbiker]

The annoying thing is the Police officer ALREADY receives a cut of the ticket. They actually make money from writing tickets but are to greedy to wait the 4-6 weeks for the official handout!

[recycled]

This place and it leadership family is getting more and more like the Family Guy everyday. It would be comical if it wasn't for the fact that Thailand is fast becoming if not already the laughing stock of the civilised world.

[NongKhaiKid]

God I love this place !!!!! So far out of sync from reality sometimes I feel

I am on another planet...... But always amusing. :-) Pay bribes to not

receive bribes. You could not possibility make this stuff up...

No you couldn't make this up. I know the BIB, especially the junior ranks, don't earn much of an official salary which is something to be addressed by the govt and now they can get a bonus for doing their job.

Officer Somchai needs a bribe of Bt 200 x by 50 drivers to make Bt 10,000 but if he arrests just i driver he is on for the 10,000 and let's not talk about evidence.

Now let's wait to see if arrests for ' attempting to bribe ' suddenly rise which will of course be touted as a great success.

Will senior officers ever question why Officer Somchai and his colleagues are suddenly making so many arrests for the same offence which has never happened before ?

No, the stats are what's wanted.

[daoyai]

I think this will just bring on bribe inflation, now a 10k minimum to be acceptable to avoid a attemted bribery charge.

[darrendsd]

Hey BIB, want some fast money. Accuse a farang of offering a bribe.

Sigh, take that chip off your shoulder, believe it or not the BIB do extort Thais as well.

[CobraSnakeNecktie]

It's a nice experiment in the right direction but what a seemingly hopeless Catch 22

[ttthailand]

Where is reward to public who report police who ask for bribe ?

[chainarong]

In a discussion with NKK we wondered what stupid novelty un-realistic topic would break this week , well this just might be it, although TAT has three days to place an equally stupid idea in ,the obvious solution to this piece of detective work that even former DSI Tarit could work out, give the guy's a little more take home pay, that's why they except bribes, they have no money, just like me

[Basil B]

It would be better to give them a good salary[fullstop] take a bribes and not only would they loose their job but could end up inside.

People used to knock the the good old British traffic warden but their priority was to get the traffic moving rather than issue a ticket, there was never any incentive to issue a ticket, unfortunately they have mostly been replaced with parking enforcement officers with targets to meet just to raise revenue for local authorities.

[Pib]

It's kinda like arresting the john who approached the prostitute. By putting fear of bribery arrest (a serious crime) into the driver's heart the driver would stop offering bribes or if the officer suggested some cash would make him forget about issuing the ticket the driver would be fearful in thinking he's being setup. I expect traffic policemen really hate the idea as it could seriously impact their business.

Always been laws against attempting to bribe public officials like police, but in this case the police dept is basically attempting to reward the traffic police in order to stop them from accepting/soliciting bribes. Guess all the traffic cops will need to do a cost analysis to determine if the reward is more profitable than just accepting a donation from the driver.

Edited October 7, 2014 by Pib

[HiSoLowSoNoSo]

Time to get a car cam to protect yourself from a 10.000 THB extortion!

[pisico]

The rule of dysfunctional law.

This Top Traffic Cops idea is actually an admission that his subordinates are indeed corrupt. Thainess.

For centuries, nothing moves forward at any government level without greasing the palms of those in the official food chain.

No administration has been free from corruption. Even the trailblazer of coups, Field Marshall Pibhun, had to be deposed by his buddies when the economy and corruption, exacted by the army at all levels of society, nearly bankrupted the country.

This solution to corruption amongst traffic cops is in keeping with the traditions of Thainess.

[Tatsujin]

Great plan . . . so instead of being asked to pay 200 baht for some made up traffic offence, now they are gonna ask for 5,000 baht to NOT get you arrested for attempted bribery . . . what a backwards ass <deleted> stupid country this is.

Bribe the Police to stop bribery. Corruption is never going to end here, is it? They just don't want it to happen.

[kriswillems]

Ok, we're in a situation were 95% of the cops ASKS for bribes.

To solve this we're going to offer a bonus to the bribing cops?

Where is the logic in this?

The group not to be trusted are not the normal people - it is the Thai police which has been ruling as a mafia over the country.

One should offer 100000 Baht to every Thai person that can show that the police tries to bribe anyone.

I also have the feeling we should urgently start to buy dashboard cams focused our side window.

My of my last encounter with the "royal" Thai police went like this:

Police: Sir,you drive too fast and too long on the right lane.

I: Not true, I didn't drive on the right lane. How many kms per hour did I drive?

Police: I don't know, but too fast. But no worry : today you can pay for a coffee too.

I: I gave him 50B

Police: Thank you very much sir, where are you from? Do you have children? Great, nice, good, blablabla. And we have no no problem, right?

No, of course not - but I didn't do anything wrong.

I called to the national number government number for corruption and to the police headquarter in BKK to tell them about the corrupt police and gave them my account number to refund me. They were totally not interested.

The problem is - the police tries to fine you for things you didn't do - and then offers to pay tea money.

There's nothing you can do. You always loose.

Edited October 7, 2014 by kriswillems

[tbthailand]

Traffic cops offered cash to turn down bribes

in most places that is called a 'salary'

[kannot]

It would be better to give them a good salary[fullstop] take a bribes and not only would they loose their job but could end up inside.

People used to knock the the good old British traffic warden but their priority was to get the traffic moving rather than issue a ticket, there was never any incentive to issue a ticket, unfortunately they have mostly been replaced with parking enforcement officers with targets to meet just to raise revenue for local authorities.

Ive mentioned it before but HALVE the force double the salary

[halloween]

Hey BIB, want some fast money. Accuse a farang of offering a bribe.

Sigh, take that chip off your shoulder, believe it or not the BIB do extort Thais as well.

Really? How unsurprising. Perhaps you can explain to me why the "fines" my TGF is asked to pay increase when I am in the car with her?

Or why my ex-wife was found negligent when a drunken Thai man, unregistered and unlicenced, veered onto the wrong side of the road, and their bikes collided. The explanation we got was that she had a farang surname/husband and could afford to repair the damage to both bikes.

[CantSpell]

God I love this place !!!!! So far out of sync from reality sometimes I feel

I am on another planet...... But always amusing. :-) Pay bribes to not

receive bribes. You could not possibility make this stuff up...

No you couldn't make this up. I know the BIB, especially the junior ranks, don't earn much of an official salary which is something to be addressed by the govt and now they can get a bonus for doing their job.

Officer Somchai needs a bribe of Bt 200 x by 50 drivers to make Bt 10,000 but if he arrests just i driver he is on for the 10,000 and let's not talk about evidence.

Now let's wait to see if arrests for ' attempting to bribe ' suddenly rise which will of course be touted as a great success.

Will senior officers ever question why Officer Somchai and his colleagues are suddenly making so many arrests for the same offence which has never happened before ?

No, the stats are what's wanted.

Except that with this big new Win-Win policy for the BIB it could now process as follow:

- New price is 500 THB now, not 200 THB anymore

- Refuse to pay 500 = reported for 10,000.....

[fritzzz25]

Can we get a wrist band from the gov't that says "I don't pay bribes"???

[toybits]

"I am laughing so hard tears are running down my legs."

[Pattaya46]

Hang on, isn't it normally the police officer that initiates the bribe?

No. Many expats put some money with their Driving Licence or other documents when they are controlled by police, that they made a fault or not. This kind of attitude is a bad thing who clearly encouraged these bribe with police

[Cuchulainn]

I think these ones below would do a much better job than the clowns we have on the streets today!!