What powers should the Tourist Police Volunteers be given?

[carlyai]

I was a volunteer when I lived in Pattaya.

I think the reason the unit was first started was because the Pattaya police were completely overwhelmed, and it was started to 'help'.

I only worked at the Pattaya Police Station on the help desk.

There were usually 3 or 4 of us who could speak Thai and German, Chinese, Aussie, etc.

We had the phone numbers of someone we could call to speak to the tourists in their own native language.

Mostly we helped with people upset over traffic violations, (no international licence etc).

We also dealt with jet ski settlements or trying to get the price lower for jet ski damage. Just advising.

One Aussie family on holidays came in with the same old problem, rented jet ski and had to pay some excessive extortion for damages.

Trouble is that they had signed the insurance paper that listed all the costs etc if there was damage, and they agreed that the photos before and after they rented the jet ski were correct. No damage before and damage after. We all know a scam.

So the problem was they could get a lawyer and fight the case in court, or try and negotiate a settlement price on the day and forget the incident and return to their family holiday.

A price was negotiated and they returned to their holiday. Not a great result but probably the best for them.

Don't think the FPV handle jet ski incidents any more.

We had another guy come in all flustered and scared and had these big red welts around his neck, and said he had just been hung by other farangs in Pattaya. We didn't touch anything like that but advised him to see the real police on duty.

Another Aussie guy refused to pay his stay at the hospital as he did not believe he had been in intensive care for 7 days.

Seems like he was a diabetic, went into a coma, and was sent to the hospital by the hotel staff who found him collapsed in his room.

Because we could speak English we tried to help him, but unfortunately he said he was going back to his room to get the money, and left.

So, we do try and help.

[LivinginKata]

Inflammatory post removed.

[stevenl]

The foreign police volunteers have the power to flag people down etc., see also a question in ask the lawyer.

I did, and it seems the lawyer is answering what powers the TP have, not TP volunteers.

Read the answer about police volunteers, not the one about tourist police volunteers. Often mixed up.

Answer here, http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/811232-does-he-have-the-authority-to-stop-vehicles/?p=9253066&hl=%2Bpolice+%2Bvolunteer

Tourist police can not stop you, answer here, http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/817819-thai-tourist-police-authority/

I have however never seen tourist police (volunteer or not) stopping people for traffic violations, but there are foreign police volunteers doing that, apparently all legal. The OP and many other comments here are mixing up activities from tourist police and the 'real' police volunteers.

Edited May 6, 2015 by stevenl

[Jimbo53]

IMHO.....Farang Tourist Police Volunteers should only be providing language and cultural interface assistance between Tourists and the RTP and Thai Tourist Police Officers as and when required,and should not be involved in normal daily RTP activities regarding motorbikes,documentation and administrative matters etc,also ,they should not be involved in helping the RTP with entrapment activities involving marked notes etc in certain entertainment establishments,which resident farangs know too well that they do get involved in...stick to helping tourists enjoy a hassle free holiday,and they may come back again,and stop hassling residents that are providing locals with the means to put food in their and their families mouths!!!!!

[wow64]

They should be given full power to jump off their balcony.

I know of a TP knob that earns a living advising the police of farangs with money disputes.. when they go collect he gets a percentage.. so give them more power..

[thaibeachlovers]

i assume the OP is referring to the foreign Tourist Police volunteers.

Here's a question to the OP.

The Thai Tourist Police have both foreign and Thai volunteers in their volunteer teams, (actually many more Thai volunteers than non-Thai volunteers).

Would the OP object if a Thai TP volunteer flagged him down and inspected his driving documents? Or is it a problem for the OP because the volunteer is not Thai.

As I previously stated, I think most tourist and western residents would have no objections to a Farang flagging them down, and certainly no objections to a Thai Tourist Police volunteer either.

You can include me in both of the above.

Having got the race, colour and religion issue out of the way, again I would like to ask has anybody seen this authority in writing, whereby it states that volunteers are legally permitted to ask for these documents.

I would be highly offended if some farang were to impose his non aurthority on me.

What training do these people have?

What is their legal status, as opposed to what they make up?

Are they "sworn" police officers?

Do they have work permits?

Under what visa are they here?

A law officer only has the power to require someone to do anything if they have the legal power to do so, and may not exceed that power. Does any such authority exist?

Till those questions are answered, far as I'm concerned they should be restricted to assisting a proper police officer, not being one.

Edited May 9, 2015 by thaibeachlovers

[thaibeachlovers]

Not a great record with volunteers in Phuket.

One was a drug dealer, another was a murderer and another a high profile police wannabe, car with flashing lights included (the Rawai bloke).

Of them all, the immigration volunteers are probably the most well-regarded, but, even there it's patchy. Have been given wrong info by one of them on more than one occasion.

As Simon has stated and most long-term residents know. There are generally two types of volunteers. Ones who are in it for themselves (for whatever reason) and those that genuinely want to help.

The question is, is having the latter worth putting up with the former.

Personally, I don't think so. They should mothball the whole program and start training Thais, from their respective departments to take over.

After all, the place you get your driving license has a Thai lady that vets everyone's paperwork first before allowing to proceed.

If they can do it, why not other government departments?

The Pattaya TPV are a joke. They only hang about on Walking Street, completely ignoring the rest of the tourist strip and do NOTHING about the child abuse going on every night in plain view on Walking Street.

The place they might be needed would be on Beach road when the ladyboys are harrassing farangs walking back to their hotels, but of course they are nowhere to be seen.

[thaibeachlovers]

I was a volunteer when I lived in Pattaya.

I think the reason the unit was first started was because the Pattaya police were completely overwhelmed, and it was started to 'help'.

I only worked at the Pattaya Police Station on the help desk.

There were usually 3 or 4 of us who could speak Thai and German, Chinese, Aussie, etc.

We had the phone numbers of someone we could call to speak to the tourists in their own native language.

Mostly we helped with people upset over traffic violations, (no international licence etc).

We also dealt with jet ski settlements or trying to get the price lower for jet ski damage. Just advising.

One Aussie family on holidays came in with the same old problem, rented jet ski and had to pay some excessive extortion for damages.

Trouble is that they had signed the insurance paper that listed all the costs etc if there was damage, and they agreed that the photos before and after they rented the jet ski were correct. No damage before and damage after. We all know a scam.

So the problem was they could get a lawyer and fight the case in court, or try and negotiate a settlement price on the day and forget the incident and return to their family holiday.

A price was negotiated and they returned to their holiday. Not a great result but probably the best for them.

Don't think the FPV handle jet ski incidents any more.

We had another guy come in all flustered and scared and had these big red welts around his neck, and said he had just been hung by other farangs in Pattaya. We didn't touch anything like that but advised him to see the real police on duty.

Another Aussie guy refused to pay his stay at the hospital as he did not believe he had been in intensive care for 7 days.

Seems like he was a diabetic, went into a coma, and was sent to the hospital by the hotel staff who found him collapsed in his room.

Because we could speak English we tried to help him, but unfortunately he said he was going back to his room to get the money, and left.

So, we do try and help.

We also dealt with jet ski settlements or trying to get the price lower for jet ski damage. Just advising.

I wouldn't use that as a justification, given that a certain well known group of Thais are involved in that scam.

Why were the volunteers only involved on Walking Street when there were far more bars etc elswhere in Pattaya, and nothing was ever done about the child abuse going on there or the ladyboys on Beach Rd?

[NamKangMan]

I was a volunteer when I lived in Pattaya.

I think the reason the unit was first started was because the Pattaya police were completely overwhelmed, and it was started to 'help'.

I only worked at the Pattaya Police Station on the help desk.

There were usually 3 or 4 of us who could speak Thai and German, Chinese, Aussie, etc.

We had the phone numbers of someone we could call to speak to the tourists in their own native language.

Mostly we helped with people upset over traffic violations, (no international licence etc).

We also dealt with jet ski settlements or trying to get the price lower for jet ski damage. Just advising.

One Aussie family on holidays came in with the same old problem, rented jet ski and had to pay some excessive extortion for damages.

Trouble is that they had signed the insurance paper that listed all the costs etc if there was damage, and they agreed that the photos before and after they rented the jet ski were correct. No damage before and damage after. We all know a scam.

So the problem was they could get a lawyer and fight the case in court, or try and negotiate a settlement price on the day and forget the incident and return to their family holiday.

A price was negotiated and they returned to their holiday. Not a great result but probably the best for them.

Don't think the FPV handle jet ski incidents any more.

We had another guy come in all flustered and scared and had these big red welts around his neck, and said he had just been hung by other farangs in Pattaya. We didn't touch anything like that but advised him to see the real police on duty.

Another Aussie guy refused to pay his stay at the hospital as he did not believe he had been in intensive care for 7 days.

Seems like he was a diabetic, went into a coma, and was sent to the hospital by the hotel staff who found him collapsed in his room.

Because we could speak English we tried to help him, but unfortunately he said he was going back to his room to get the money, and left.

So, we do try and help.

"We also dealt with jet ski settlements or trying to get the price lower for jet ski damage." - and how many innocent victims of this extortion came away from those "settlements" thinking, "That foreigner policeman must be in on it as well."

The TPV's should not be an accessory to these crimes against tourists.

[rwdrwdrwd]

Frankly, my opinion is that these 'volunteers' should not exist, at least in the present form.

It is useful to have translators, so hire translators, not wannabe pseudo cops. That some of them may have been policemen (or traffic wardens) back in their home countries is entirely irrelevant.

You don't see Chinese volunteer police on the streets of London or New York, nor volunteer English police on the streets of Spain, so why on earth are they useful or necessary here.

No, I wouldn't stop for one, whatsoever.

Edited May 9, 2015 by rwdrwdrwd

[stevenl]

Not a great record with volunteers in Phuket.

One was a drug dealer, another was a murderer and another a high profile police wannabe, car with flashing lights included (the Rawai bloke).

Of them all, the immigration volunteers are probably the most well-regarded, but, even there it's patchy. Have been given wrong info by one of them on more than one occasion.

As Simon has stated and most long-term residents know. There are generally two types of volunteers. Ones who are in it for themselves (for whatever reason) and those that genuinely want to help.

The question is, is having the latter worth putting up with the former.

Personally, I don't think so. They should mothball the whole program and start training Thais, from their respective departments to take over.

After all, the place you get your driving license has a Thai lady that vets everyone's paperwork first before allowing to proceed.

If they can do it, why not other government departments?

The Pattaya TPV are a joke. They only hang about on Walking Street, completely ignoring the rest of the tourist strip and do NOTHING about the child abuse going on every night in plain view on Walking Street.

The place they might be needed would be on Beach road when the ladyboys are harrassing farangs walking back to their hotels, but of course they are nowhere to be seen.

And they can't do anything about that.

Unless you want them to do the Thai police's work, but judging from your posts that is not the case.

[thaibeachlovers]

Frankly, my opinion is that these 'volunteers' should not exist, at least in the present form.

It is useful to have translators, so hire translators, not wannabe pseudo cops. That some of them may have been policemen (or traffic wardens) back in their home countries is entirely irrelevant.

You don't see Chinese volunteer police on the streets of London or New York, nor volunteer English police on the streets of Spain, so why on earth are they useful or necessary here.

No, I wouldn't stop for one, whatsoever.

That's a brilliant reply.

[thaibeachlovers]

Not a great record with volunteers in Phuket.

One was a drug dealer, another was a murderer and another a high profile police wannabe, car with flashing lights included (the Rawai bloke).

Of them all, the immigration volunteers are probably the most well-regarded, but, even there it's patchy. Have been given wrong info by one of them on more than one occasion.

As Simon has stated and most long-term residents know. There are generally two types of volunteers. Ones who are in it for themselves (for whatever reason) and those that genuinely want to help.

The question is, is having the latter worth putting up with the former.

Personally, I don't think so. They should mothball the whole program and start training Thais, from their respective departments to take over.

After all, the place you get your driving license has a Thai lady that vets everyone's paperwork first before allowing to proceed.

If they can do it, why not other government departments?

The Pattaya TPV are a joke. They only hang about on Walking Street, completely ignoring the rest of the tourist strip and do NOTHING about the child abuse going on every night in plain view on Walking Street.

The place they might be needed would be on Beach road when the ladyboys are harrassing farangs walking back to their hotels, but of course they are nowhere to be seen.

And they can't do anything about that.

Unless you want them to do the Thai police's work, but judging from your posts that is not the case.

So, there is no justification for them stopping farangs either.

They should just be translators and let the real police do the police work.

No one has yet produced any evidence that they have legal authority to do police work. To be legal it has to be in writing and published by the Thai police department.

[stevenl]

Not a great record with volunteers in Phuket.

One was a drug dealer, another was a murderer and another a high profile police wannabe, car with flashing lights included (the Rawai bloke).

Of them all, the immigration volunteers are probably the most well-regarded, but, even there it's patchy. Have been given wrong info by one of them on more than one occasion.

As Simon has stated and most long-term residents know. There are generally two types of volunteers. Ones who are in it for themselves (for whatever reason) and those that genuinely want to help.

The question is, is having the latter worth putting up with the former.

Personally, I don't think so. They should mothball the whole program and start training Thais, from their respective departments to take over.

After all, the place you get your driving license has a Thai lady that vets everyone's paperwork first before allowing to proceed.

If they can do it, why not other government departments?

The Pattaya TPV are a joke. They only hang about on Walking Street, completely ignoring the rest of the tourist strip and do NOTHING about the child abuse going on every night in plain view on Walking Street.

The place they might be needed would be on Beach road when the ladyboys are harrassing farangs walking back to their hotels, but of course they are nowhere to be seen.

And they can't do anything about that.

Unless you want them to do the Thai police's work, but judging from your posts that is not the case.

So, there is no justification for them stopping farangs either.

They should just be translators and let the real police do the police work.

No one has yet produced any evidence that they have legal authority to do police work. To be legal it has to be in writing and published by the Thai police department.

They don't stop foreigners. The people stopping the foreigners are Thai police volunteers, not tourist police volunteers. And police volunteers have legal authority to stop people, see the link I posted earlier.

[carlyai]

I was a volunteer when I lived in Pattaya.

I think the reason the unit was first started was because the Pattaya police were completely overwhelmed, and it was started to 'help'.

I only worked at the Pattaya Police Station on the help desk.

There were usually 3 or 4 of us who could speak Thai and German, Chinese, Aussie, etc.

We had the phone numbers of someone we could call to speak to the tourists in their own native language.

Mostly we helped with people upset over traffic violations, (no international licence etc).

We also dealt with jet ski settlements or trying to get the price lower for jet ski damage. Just advising.

One Aussie family on holidays came in with the same old problem, rented jet ski and had to pay some excessive extortion for damages.

Trouble is that they had signed the insurance paper that listed all the costs etc if there was damage, and they agreed that the photos before and after they rented the jet ski were correct. No damage before and damage after. We all know a scam.

So the problem was they could get a lawyer and fight the case in court, or try and negotiate a settlement price on the day and forget the incident and return to their family holiday.

A price was negotiated and they returned to their holiday. Not a great result but probably the best for them.

Don't think the FPV handle jet ski incidents any more.

We had another guy come in all flustered and scared and had these big red welts around his neck, and said he had just been hung by other farangs in Pattaya. We didn't touch anything like that but advised him to see the real police on duty.

Another Aussie guy refused to pay his stay at the hospital as he did not believe he had been in intensive care for 7 days.

Seems like he was a diabetic, went into a coma, and was sent to the hospital by the hotel staff who found him collapsed in his room.

Because we could speak English we tried to help him, but unfortunately he said he was going back to his room to get the money, and left.

So, we do try and help.

We also dealt with jet ski settlements or trying to get the price lower for jet ski damage. Just advising.

I wouldn't use that as a justification, given that a certain well known group of Thais are involved in that scam.

Why were the volunteers only involved on Walking Street when there were far more bars etc elswhere in Pattaya, and nothing was ever done about the child abuse going on there or the ladyboys on Beach Rd?

Sorry, but I was with the FPV not the Tourist Police V.

They are or were seperate groups.

There were some farangs who seemed to work for the Pattaya Police high er ups, but we stayed well away from them.

As far as I know, and I don't know that much, the FPV have no powers, but others may act for a serving police person.

I once saw an (I was not involved in the accident) accident where a young kid on the front of the motor bike went sailing thru the air and landed on the road.

Kid in trouble and mum (driver or motor bike, no helmet, you know the story) was going mad, so I put them in my car, put the flashing warning lights on and drove to the hospital off Pattaya Klang but on the way the kid developed breathing troubles so I put the hand on the horn and went through red lights to get to the hospital.

I asked our team leader what would have happened, as i was a FPV if I had had an accident on the way to the hospital going thru red lights etc, and he said I would be charged like everone else.

So my understanding then was that the FPV have no special powers, but maybe the TPV do and it probably depends on the police officer they are working for.

You know, if you do the right thing, obey the laws, no one should hastle you, especially not a farang.

[thaibeachlovers]

The Pattaya TPV are a joke. They only hang about on Walking Street, completely ignoring the rest of the tourist strip and do NOTHING about the child abuse going on every night in plain view on Walking Street.

The place they might be needed would be on Beach road when the ladyboys are harrassing farangs walking back to their hotels, but of course they are nowhere to be seen.

And they can't do anything about that.

Unless you want them to do the Thai police's work, but judging from your posts that is not the case.

So, there is no justification for them stopping farangs either.

They should just be translators and let the real police do the police work.

No one has yet produced any evidence that they have legal authority to do police work. To be legal it has to be in writing and published by the Thai police department.

They don't stop foreigners. The people stopping the foreigners are Thai police volunteers, not tourist police volunteers. And police volunteers have legal authority to stop people, see the link I posted earlier.

OK so it's the Police Volunteers, not the TOURIST polive volunteers. My points still apply- do they have training, do they have written, published legal authority, do they have work permits etc?

Whatever, IMO farangs have no business pretending to be Thai policemen, and they should go home and become proper policemen there, not harrassing tourists over here.

quote removed to allow posting

[thaibeachlovers]

I was a volunteer when I lived in Pattaya.

I think the reason the unit was first started was because the Pattaya police were completely overwhelmed, and it was started to 'help'.

I only worked at the Pattaya Police Station on the help desk.

There were usually 3 or 4 of us who could speak Thai and German, Chinese, Aussie, etc.

We had the phone numbers of someone we could call to speak to the tourists in their own native language.

Mostly we helped with people upset over traffic violations, (no international licence etc).

We also dealt with jet ski settlements or trying to get the price lower for jet ski damage. Just advising.

One Aussie family on holidays came in with the same old problem, rented jet ski and had to pay some excessive extortion for damages.

Trouble is that they had signed the insurance paper that listed all the costs etc if there was damage, and they agreed that the photos before and after they rented the jet ski were correct. No damage before and damage after. We all know a scam.

So the problem was they could get a lawyer and fight the case in court, or try and negotiate a settlement price on the day and forget the incident and return to their family holiday.

A price was negotiated and they returned to their holiday. Not a great result but probably the best for them.

Don't think the FPV handle jet ski incidents any more.

We had another guy come in all flustered and scared and had these big red welts around his neck, and said he had just been hung by other farangs in Pattaya. We didn't touch anything like that but advised him to see the real police on duty.

Another Aussie guy refused to pay his stay at the hospital as he did not believe he had been in intensive care for 7 days.

Seems like he was a diabetic, went into a coma, and was sent to the hospital by the hotel staff who found him collapsed in his room.

Because we could speak English we tried to help him, but unfortunately he said he was going back to his room to get the money, and left.

So, we do try and help.

We also dealt with jet ski settlements or trying to get the price lower for jet ski damage. Just advising.

I wouldn't use that as a justification, given that a certain well known group of Thais are involved in that scam.

Why were the volunteers only involved on Walking Street when there were far more bars etc elswhere in Pattaya, and nothing was ever done about the child abuse going on there or the ladyboys on Beach Rd?

Sorry, but I was with the FPV not the Tourist Police V.

They are or were seperate groups.

There were some farangs who seemed to work for the Pattaya Police high er ups, but we stayed well away from them.

As far as I know, and I don't know that much, the FPV have no powers, but others may act for a serving police person.

I once saw an (I was not involved in the accident) accident where a young kid on the front of the motor bike went sailing thru the air and landed on the road.

Kid in trouble and mum (driver or motor bike, no helmet, you know the story) was going mad, so I put them in my car, put the flashing warning lights on and drove to the hospital off Pattaya Klang but on the way the kid developed breathing troubles so I put the hand on the horn and went through red lights to get to the hospital.

I asked our team leader what would have happened, as i was a FPV if I had had an accident on the way to the hospital going thru red lights etc, and he said I would be charged like everone else.

So my understanding then was that the FPV have no special powers, but maybe the TPV do and it probably depends on the police officer they are working for.

You know, if you do the right thing, obey the laws, no one should hastle you, especially not a farang.

Thanks for clarifying that.

[thaibeachlovers]

I was a volunteer when I lived in Pattaya.

I think the reason the unit was first started was because the Pattaya police were completely overwhelmed, and it was started to 'help'.

I only worked at the Pattaya Police Station on the help desk.

There were usually 3 or 4 of us who could speak Thai and German, Chinese, Aussie, etc.

We had the phone numbers of someone we could call to speak to the tourists in their own native language.

Mostly we helped with people upset over traffic violations, (no international licence etc).

We also dealt with jet ski settlements or trying to get the price lower for jet ski damage. Just advising.

One Aussie family on holidays came in with the same old problem, rented jet ski and had to pay some excessive extortion for damages.

Trouble is that they had signed the insurance paper that listed all the costs etc if there was damage, and they agreed that the photos before and after they rented the jet ski were correct. No damage before and damage after. We all know a scam.

So the problem was they could get a lawyer and fight the case in court, or try and negotiate a settlement price on the day and forget the incident and return to their family holiday.

A price was negotiated and they returned to their holiday. Not a great result but probably the best for them.

Don't think the FPV handle jet ski incidents any more.

We had another guy come in all flustered and scared and had these big red welts around his neck, and said he had just been hung by other farangs in Pattaya. We didn't touch anything like that but advised him to see the real police on duty.

Another Aussie guy refused to pay his stay at the hospital as he did not believe he had been in intensive care for 7 days.

Seems like he was a diabetic, went into a coma, and was sent to the hospital by the hotel staff who found him collapsed in his room.

Because we could speak English we tried to help him, but unfortunately he said he was going back to his room to get the money, and left.

So, we do try and help.

I think the reason the unit was first started was because the Pattaya police were completely overwhelmed,

I just noticed that and

A less overwhelmed body of men would be hard to find. Back in the day before TPVs appeared on WS there was never a policeman to be seen, except when they came by to hassle the food cart vendors. Actually I never saw a problem on WS in those days- the problems were ladyboys on Beach Rd, and they still are because the police/ TPVs never appear where the problems are.

The only thing the police do now is the occasional drive up and down in the golf cart- hard work, NOT!!!!!!!!!