Bangkok bombing: Why are Thai police still holding public crime reenactments?

[webfact]

Bangkok bombing: Why are Thai police still holding public crime reenactments?
By Saksith Saiyasombut & Siam Voices

BANGKOK: -- As investigations around the Bangkok deadly bomb attacks continue, the Thai police paraded a main suspect around the scene of the blast in a public reenactment. But why is this odd practice still being carried out?

You wouldn’t notice that not too long ago something happened here at this busy intersection in central Bangkok. That’s how cleaned up and restored the popular Erawan Shrine looks like after a deadly bomb attack on August 17 killed 20 people and injured 150. Three and a half weeks later, the Thai police are still hunting for perpetuators of the crime but believe that they have closed in on them.

Despite the rushed reopening of the shrine and an investigation full of contradictions and controversy (most notably the police rewarding themselves the investigation money), the authorities are claiming to have a direction in the search for the culprits and have issued multiple arrest warrants, including who police think is the ‘main organizer’ of the bomb attack.

Thai authorities have also made two arrests within a short period of time: an unknown foreigner on August 29 in an apartment on the outskirts of Bangkok and another man named by Thai police as Yusufu Mieraili, a Chinese national arrested in an attempt to cross the border into Cambodia on September 1 (we reported). The latter was initially presented as the “main suspect”, but later Thai officials admitted that Mieralli is “a conspirator”, meaning the bomber himself (depicted in CCTV footage and police sketches as a young man in a yellow t-shirt), who left the backpack with the explosive device at the shrine, still remains at large.

Full story: http://asiancorrespondent.com/135411/why-are-thai-police-still-holding-public-crime-reenactments/

-- ASIAN CORRESPONDENT 2015-09-10

[clockman]

Because they love themselves, pictured in the news. Nothing constructive. Its just look at me!

[Always18]

Self-aggrandizement................in a nutshell.

[toenail]

- old tradition that they do not realize is outdated such as the dinosaur

[terminatorchiangmai]

Maybe nobody ever told them how stupid they act and look ?

[peterjackson]

Self praise. They don't realise it's no praise at all.

[EnglishJohn]

It's this bizarre thing where senior Thais gain lots of 'face' from like-minded minions and a certain group of Thai society, but are oblivious to the fact that they lose every shred of it to everybody else in the world.

Chalerm was a master at it.

[brucegoniners]

Uh, because they aren't real police and don't know how to do their jobs?

That would be my first guess.

I think if this happened in the U.S. or the UK, the perps would have been rounded up in a few days tops.

Security cameras, witnesses, etc. Lots of evidence. Much of which the cops mishandled and tainted by reopening the shrine in a few days.

Instead the cops refused the FBI's help saying "we can handle it".

Well guys, you couldn't and you can't!

[chainarong]

This 3rd world approach needs to be stopped they don't impress anyone, the re-enactment should only apply to the court room, then again maybe they are trying to convince themselves they've got it right, but, but , then again maybe they want the TVForum crew to piece together the evidence for them.

[selftaopath]

I suppose another reason to SMILE like hell in LOS. Which really stands for Lack of Sanctions/Land of Scams.

[waldroj]

Surely, a re-enactment implies guilt?

It beggars belief, but Section 39 of Thailand's now-defunct Constitution of 2007 expressly stated that "...it is prohibited to treat the accused as if he or she is guilty"!

It must be a cultural thing, but in my farang opinion, it makes a mokery of natural justice and the rights of an unconvicted suspect to receive a fair and unbiased trial.

I'm amazed that local defence lawyers have not pointed this out to their clients, or to trial judges. In countries that respect the rule of law this could be grounds for a mistrial.

Combine the re-enactment with a feeding frenzy of inept local media, and it would appear that a suspect's chances of a fair hearing are about as slim as finding an honest local official.

[jerojero]

For show, publicity and resulting face gain of Police

[scorecard]

Maybe nobody ever told them how stupid they act and look ?

I wonder whether this proves anything - there must be cases:

- Where the accused are using the re-enactment to push their own line - and surely this could be true if the recent bombing is part of a master plan.

- Where the accused is under pressure to enact a 'play' as per instructions of the cops, who are trying to build a case which is less than supported or not supported at all, just a ruse.

[jagfx]

I'm not sure re-enactment is the right word to use. It is quite common in western countries to request a suspect to return to the scene of a crime and answer questions or clarify certain things. It may look like a re-enactment to some but it is just a part of the interview process. But having said that, it has to be done with the suspects consent, which normally means they are basically admitting to the offence or trying to justify it. And normally solicitors/lawyers are present etc, and it is conducted in a very controlled environment. Not sure Thailand's way of doing these quite complies with those type of conditions, but they are more common than you think. And this is the ex Police in me advising on this. Cheers.

[bino]

Why? Because they are clueless.

Thy can't figure out whodunit, and need someone to show them howdunit.

[Colabamumbai]

Prayuth told police investigators early in the case, to watch a TV Cop Show and that they would learn how to find clues.

[Thai at Heart]

Overtime

[elgordo38]

Maybe nobody ever told them how stupid they act and look ?

My mother sometimes made me do things 3 or 4 times till I got it right. Some of these guys when you listen to them are great actors and like the late great Marlon Brando you have to practice a craft to get it right and he was one of the greatest.

[coulson]

A picture says a thousand words.........

[swissbie]

It just has been like this since ever, like the crime magazines with the bloody pictures of crime and accident victims. Good or not? Old fashioned or not? Maybe it's not us expatriates to judge this.

[sensei]

And what exactly are these two laughing about?

[Always18]

And what exactly are these two laughing about?

www.usnews.jpg

It would give me nightmares to consider the answer to that..................

[mauGR1]

And what exactly are these two laughing about?

www.usnews.jpg

Thanks for posting, i was just thinking about this photo.

I don't know if this guy is guilty of something, but am i the only one who find it outrageous ?? <deleted>, they are having fun in the place where innocent people has been blasted to pieces.

If i was a relative of some of the victims, and see this photo , i would be bursting with rage.

[tomacht8]

That does cost a lot of taxpayers money too.
Such crime reenactments does indeed make sense, if the goal is to gain new insights by.
But most crime reenactments are pure PR and self-publicity.
And if there 10-20-30-50-100 cops running around all day, the number of lost work hours are quite large.
In many cases this is a waste of money and time.
Not effective and also not efficient.

[jaywalker]

I'm not sure re-enactment is the right word to use. It is quite common in western countries to request a suspect to return to the scene of a crime and answer questions or clarify certain things. It may look like a re-enactment to some but it is just a part of the interview process. But having said that, it has to be done with the suspects consent, which normally means they are basically admitting to the offence or trying to justify it. And normally solicitors/lawyers are present etc, and it is conducted in a very controlled environment. Not sure Thailand's way of doing these quite complies with those type of conditions, but they are more common than you think. And this is the ex Police in me advising on this. Cheers.

I agree they may help clarify a few issues/questions, but.... Were major news outlets ever invited to film the re-enactments in your experience as a policeman?

The title of the thread is 'Public' re-enactments.

Why are they public???

So the cops can been seen is all, as 99% of the time they are asleep somewhere.

[Brer Fox]

This is a fascinating story on the bombing and well deserving a read. (2 pages)

http://asia.nikkei.com/Viewpoints/Geopolitico/Truth-behind-Bangkok-bombing-may-never-be-known

[maidee]

any news about that premature 3 million baht handover?

[Expat1]

I am always underwhelmed about the lack of Asian knowledge exhibited by the people that use this site. They have been trotting people out in front of the crowd for centuries. This is not done for your TV sets. This is all about face and the expected and potential loss of. Since most westerners have no frame of reference to understand the importance and strength attached with face with Asian cultures the misconceptions they come up with are fascinating to see.

A quick story to illustrate this point. Since time immemorial or the 1970's, which ever came first, a standard method to induce a debtor to repay a debt was not at first to resort to violence but to publicly shame the debtor and family into repaying. This took many forms but one of my personal favorites was the lender to pass out flyers and paste posters to local lamp posts with the names of the debtors and their debts. If that had no effect they would stand out front of the person's house at first morning light with a bull horn waking up the neighbourhood and shout out the debtor's name, his address and amount owed and how long the debt was outstanding and how much of a deadbeat they were. The wife and family (assuming husband owed) were humiliated with major face loss in their community, sometimes even to suicide. The reenactments on TV are for the public to take similar note and avoid this fate of major face loss for committing crimes of any type.

Now it does beg the question, is this still as effective as it was in the past for this purpose. Who knows? Though I suspect it still retains reasonable effect.

[jaywalker]

I am always underwhelmed about the lack of Asian knowledge exhibited by the people that use this site. They have been trotting people out in front of the crowd for centuries. This is not done for your TV sets. This is all about face and the expected and potential loss of. Since most westerners have no frame of reference to understand the importance and strength attached with face with Asian cultures the misconceptions they come up with are fascinating to see. A quick story to illustrate this point. Since time immemorial or the 1970's, which ever came first, a standard method to induce a debtor to repay a debt was not at first to resort to violence but to publicly shame the debtor and family into repaying. This took many forms but one of my personal favorites was the lender to pass out flyers and paste posters to local lamp posts with the names of the debtors and their debts. If that had no effect they would stand out front of the person's house at first morning light with a bull horn waking up the neighbourhood and shout out the debtor's name, his address and amount owed and how long the debt was outstanding and how much of a deadbeat they were. The wife and family (assuming husband owed) were humiliated with major face loss in their community, sometimes even to suicide. The reenactments on TV are for the public to take similar note and avoid this fate of major face loss for committing crimes of any type. Now it does beg the question, is this still as effective as it was in the past for this purpose. Who knows? Though I suspect it still retains reasonable effect.

Welcome to the 2nd decade of the 21st Century.

I'm amazed that I cannot drink and drive and smoke weed without a worry in the world, like we did decades ago.

I'm amazed that I cannot smoke on airplanes too!

I'm amazed

that you

cannot

hit the

enter

key on

occasion

as you type.

[jerojero]

Public humiliation of the perp. Loss of all face by the perp. Police get another news cameo so they can get their faces on TV.