Bangkok bombing: City officials bridle at claims of broken CCTVs

[sammygood]

how come there was no cctv at the shrine itself ?

that would have been too easy, right ?

[toooa]

Considering the money spent on CCTV, what's the point, really? Is there any benefit to the taxpayers who have for fork out the money for all this? Or is it just another opportunity to make some money and soothe the paranoia of officialdom? It's always sold as a way to keep the public safe, but clearly it hasn't. It's only use is in retrospect, after the fact.

Massive waste of money.

[tigermonkey]

The person on the back of this bike looks to be wearing long pants and white shoes. ?

I agree -- I have enhanced somewhat, and the person on the back of the bike is wearing jeans, white shoes and a money belt ( bum bag). Did the police draw the red circle or is that an effort by the press -- who knows ?

Is it the bomber ? Did he change his clothes ?

[AyG]

Didn't the people monitoring the CCTV in the control room think it was strange that screens where fuzzy white and so something was wrong or did they think it was snowing in that part of Bangkok.

According to press reports many of these cameras weren't the remote monitoring type. They had their recordings collected every 15 days for analysis.

[Emster23]

"“In fact, requesting footage from BMA cameras require documents for permission,"

May I suggest they watch a few episodes of Law & Order.... quite often they are looking at security footage, no warrant, permission slip from daddy, anything like that required. I wonder if a farang (or anyone, for that matter) fitted up for some accident or incident could get police or BMA footage to defend their position in court.... hmmm. BTW isn't London the most surveiled (is that the word?) city? They seemed to get on that right away few years back with their bombings.

[jdlancaster]

What is too many sherberts on the cheese board? A drinking reference?

[chilli42]

I can tell you that the CCTV camera on Pattanakarn works at high definition from 300 meters. I know this because the police mailed me a moving violation ticket and a copy of six frames from that location's camera which had a newly installed no U turn sign. Based on the quality of the image I received, they should be able to tell the brand of glasses the yellow shirted guy was wearing.

[chilli42]

Considering the money spent on CCTV, what's the point, really? Is there any benefit to the taxpayers who have for fork out the money for all this? Or is it just another opportunity to make some money and soothe the paranoia of officialdom? It's always sold as a way to keep the public safe, but clearly it hasn't. It's only use is in retrospect, after the fact.

Massive waste of money.

Clearly you are not reading the local press or watching Thai news. Suffice to say you have no clue what you are talking about.

[NickJ]

Bolo out for white shoes next........Maybe the entire country is where all International Terror Organizations can send there Prospects to get there bomb making merit badge.

[Baerboxer]

"“In fact, requesting footage from BMA cameras require documents for permission,"

May I suggest they watch a few episodes of Law & Order.... quite often they are looking at security footage, no warrant, permission slip from daddy, anything like that required. I wonder if a farang (or anyone, for that matter) fitted up for some accident or incident could get police or BMA footage to defend their position in court.... hmmm. BTW isn't London the most surveiled (is that the word?) city? They seemed to get on that right away few years back with their bombings.

The UK in general is the most watched country in the world by police cctv cameras.

Here the BMA run the cameras and the police must fill a request form in to view? Probably set up so any requested footage can be screened by political lackeys to make sure nothing "sensitive" to politicians, rich hisos is accidentally passed on.

Everyone here wants control of the information -either for gain or suppression. And of course, to help in the blame game.

[hawker9000]

The police and the military are, and at least in modern times pretty much always have been, archrival power nuclei. Thus the incessant finger pointing and inability of the one to exercise any lasting control over or effective management of the other. This is true no matter who's in the country's drivers seat. There's the organizational diagram and reporting relationships on paper, and then there's the way it really is. This seems to be a difficult concept for some foreigners accustomed to a more centrally accountable government to grasp, and that's understandable, but sort of an example of carrying over one's beliefs about their governments & how they work at home and assuming it's all the same here. It's not.

[morpho]

Sometimes I really wonder how anything works well in this country...nobody takes responsibility for anything if it is wrong...it's always somebody else's fault (preferably a foreigner if possible).

[Equalizer]

metropolitan administration gone so far as to bend the rules to help police Hmmmmm [bangkok Metropolitan Administration] was never thanked by any relevant agency Hmmmmm

Maybe this kind of childish bickering is the real issue in Thailand. All we here is ''never thanked'' all parties main objective is not ''losing face''.

Lets us ask the BKK metro why they spent millions of baht on sub standard cameras and whose pockets did the surplus go into.

[English 1]

Well the City officials would say that wouldn't they?!!!

Thai never admit they are wrong even when the evidence is before ( or not in this case ) their eyes.

To LIE is considered normal here.

As an aside some years ago when a top policeman was referring to a Hit and Run Driver he said

He ran away "Which is the Natural thing to do!".........says a lot.

[Nobb]

Thai Police Chiefs need to be upgraded for every ones protection. He is on hot seat so what does he do he lies. Transfer to another district!

[Jim walker]

check of 107 cameras in the area around Erawan Shrine found only four broken, which the city has since fixed what a relief when bomber comes back to do another bombing at the shrine nice to know we will be able to watch it happening on CCTV all fixed and ready to go. Door and horse bolting comes to mind.

[bangon04]

Didn't the people monitoring the CCTV in the control room think it was strange that screens where fuzzy white and so something was wrong or did they think it was snowing in that part of Bangkok.

I wonder how long these cameras had been faulty for?

"people monitoring the CCTV in the control room"

did you really just use that sentence???

[Ulic]

"bridle" or bristle at claims of cctv cameras not being operational?

[Acharn]

Didn't the people monitoring the CCTV in the control room think it was strange that screens where fuzzy white and so something was wrong or did they think it was snowing in that part of Bangkok.

I wonder how long these cameras had been faulty for?

I'm pretty sure these cameras are not monitored in real time. They record what happens in their field of view. Most of them are old, and poor quality even for the time they were bought.

[metisdead]

Off topic posts and replies have been removed.

[chrisinth]

"bridle" or bristle at claims of cctv cameras not being operational?

Yes, both could be used.

But bridle is probably the closest to 'Anger or take offence'....................

[lvr181]

Remember - TITS!

Much face to be saved, much blaming of someone else to be done and then, maybe, we will get real about dealing with the crime in a timely and successful manner

[kennw]

In a country that has 20 odd million visitors each year, surely there should be an incentive, and enough budget to establish a security infrastructure that involves HD surveillance cameras integrated with security organizations, traffic control, police and other relevant organizations. In addition to the flowery tourists adds, we need to develop a security infrastructure that we can publicize to instill confidence in visitors and locals indicating that here we have the best electronic protection available to ensure their security. Of course there could still one weak in the chain but TIT.

[Cake Monster]

Of course the City Officials will be a bit miffed that somebody even suggests the cameras are broken.

The " broken cameras " are probably empty cases installed to " save the city money " .

[willyumiii]

"...insisting nearly all its cameras worked".....................in this context, I suspect "nearly" has the same connotations as the Thai "soon".

Come on!

It states that out of 107 cameras checked, only 4 were not working and that they have been fixed.

That is pretty specific and I think 4 of 107 qualifies as "nearly".

[kennw]

Come on, you should know that this is just the Thai version of "pass the parcel" just starting, wonder who will get caught with it.

[speedtripler]

"...insisting nearly all its cameras worked".....................in this context, I suspect "nearly" has the same connotations as the Thai "soon".

Come on!

It states that out of 107 cameras checked, only 4 were not working and that they have been fixed.

That is pretty specific and I think 4 of 107 qualifies as "nearly".

Somyot=75% broken

Bma=3% broken

But now 0% broken

The problem is the footage is so grainy as to be almost useless, maybe the lenses are covered in pollution and rarely/never get cleaned

Bkk air is filthy, especially around the bomb area where there is constantly traffic jams under the bts line and intersections

If you leave something on your balcony a few days and then see how much crap has collected on it

Add to that the cameras were probably the cheapest quality available several years ago when they were ordered,maybe 75% are not technically broken but just badly placed, dirty or unusable due to picture quality

[tajtom]

Theres a old saying

The truth comes out in the wash

And the police have always a stack of washing to do along with other prominent parties in Thailand.

They never evn new where to start. They are simply not trained or street wise enough to tackle it all. Prayiuths comments that Thais are cpaable is outrageous

He advised they viedw Blue bloods for help in the investiagtion.... Dear Mr PM this is a fictional TV show and what you should have done is immediately got the USA or AU federal police involved and I assure you the hunt would be red hot

Failure the whole episode

Oh well back to stopping motorbikes mate