Policing in Thailand - A culture of informing, or lots of paid informants?

[Craig krup]

When sociologists look at how crimes are solved it becomes pretty obvious that CIS it ain't. Crimes across the world are solved in two ways. 1) The inky ginger of suspicion falls on everyone who has a motive, and somebody with a motive excites the suspicion of the cops under questioning. "Rounding up the usual suspects" for robberies, rapes and the like is essentially the same thing. 2) Someone tells the cops who did it.

Now everyone - or many people - slag off the Thai cops, but I've got to say, they seem remarkably good at getting their hands on who they're looking for in an awful lot of cases. If some old bloke gets assaulted in Udon the young team who did it are in the papers in hours. That wouldn't happen in lots of places. It has to be the case that the cops ask and people tell them. There's no way they can do what they do otherwise. The question is, do they i) hand over 500 baht for the name, ii) is there a culture of dobbing people in, or iii) is landing somebody else in it an investment: do the cops throw you a bone at some point in the future?

[buythisdashcam]

First, the culture, and second, look around all these people living outdoor as motorbike taxis etc...

[fireplay]

All a bunch of snitches the whole lot of em

[prestburypark]

omerta krap

[starky]

Despite the fact it is a "give up" culture, they only need to get their hands on one. It has always been my understanding that to get lighter sentencing ( and much less of a flogging down the stationhouse ) that you have to give a full confession and then give up everyone and anything that may have been complicit in your crime and potentially any other crime that you have knowledge of. They are some very staunch criminals in other countries to whom being a dog is worse than death but when your in a country where the jacks are happy to pour boiling water over you or throw some battery cables on your knackers after you already copped a solid beating then it becomes a question not of how staunch you are but how long you can hold out.

[alfalfa19]

All a bunch of snitches the whole lot of em

I agree. I don't think it's great police work, it seems that every casual user or small time dealer informs on their supplier when arrested. I don't know if it's the culture, or coercion by the cops. In the US drug culture, this would result in a lot of murders.

[starky]

All a bunch of snitches the whole lot of em

I agree. I don't think it's great police work, it seems that every casual user or small time dealer informs on their supplier when arrested. I don't know if it's the culture, or coercion by the cops. In the US drug culture, this would result in a lot of murders.

Let's just say "coercion" is a very mild way of putting it. The BIB would have been a walk up start for jobs in camp X-ray

[shirtless]

They all dog each other in , as criminals they really are mutts.

[Colabamumbai]

They would give you up in the blink of an eye, as said reduced sentence, saving face, chicken shit, watch the Thai police shows on T.V. where the dealer is forced to call his contacts from his/her home to deliver more yaba.

[pauleddy]

What amazes me is that killers who face a certain death sentence often turn themselves in, or confess everything without trying to dodge out. They then look almost smug in the BIB photo shots. Perhaps it is something to do with facing your karma...or perhaps the very poor or downtrodden have a low self-esteem and believe that their lives are valueless anyway.

But there is certainly a snitch culture, just as there is a tendency to gossip. I guess that snitching earns brownie points for when your turn comes around. Some of my neighbours hate each other: they spy, peep and gossip all day. Snitching would be easier than sneezing.

The point about motor-bike boys is also a good one. In my road, the bike boys, the small vans and the chicken ladies never miss anything. People knew about me, my job and nationality within ten minutes of moving in...and I don't live in a village in Isaan, but it might as well be.

Eddy

[AlQaholic]

The reason why the Thai coppers can find the bad guys so fast is that Thai police are so tied in to the "dark side" already, they know everything that goes on in their area of influence/interest. Most of the time everything goes normal and the police get their cut of everything going on, but when things goes really bad they know who and what happened. Little like the good old New York coppers in the olden days.

[Khon Kaen Dave]

I also think that when the cops cant catch a gang or a felon,and it gets embarrassing, then the old 'face for the frame' law is invoked.

there's a lot of wanted guys that dont get arrested,the police go get them when they need a face,its usually 'downed' to a much lower punishment.Its like keeping a stock,so to speak.

And on the Whole,they are complete grasses,they will stitch each other up,wholesale.And be

fore the TV 'inquisition' comes out to play,'where do you get your information,how do you know this,yada,yada ,yada.

I know gents, because the copper who looked after my bar was my brother in law and all his family are old bill.'cept the wife of course.

[Docno]

All a bunch of snitches the whole lot of em

I always find this attitude interesting. Let's say there was no CCTV footage of the assault on the elderly couple in Hua Hin so that police had to instead rely on leads from the many bystanders who observed the crime that night. In your world, would you prefer that people didn't "snitch" and tell the police who they saw commit the crime. Would that make for a better society in your opinion? [Any chance you've been on the other side of the law yourself in the past?]

[Benmart]

All a bunch of snitches the whole lot of em

I always find this attitude interesting. Let's say there was no CCTV footage of the assault on the elderly couple in Hua Hin so that police had to instead rely on leads from the many bystanders who observed the crime that night. In your world, would you prefer that people didn't "snitch" and tell the police who they saw commit the crime. Would that make for a better society in your opinion? [Any chance you've been on the other side of the law yourself in the past?]

Good reply and perhaps less "preachy "without the "you" ,"your" and "yourself".

[siamcrut]

There is always someone watching and peeping, doesn't matter what time.

Privacy, only inside your house!

[ChristianBlessing]

It may certainly appear that cases reported in the press are resolved quickly but without knowing the ratio of solved to unsolved criminal cases, declaring that Thai police "seem remarkably good at getting their hands on who they're looking for in an awful lot of cases..." would be difficult to substantiate.

[Craig krup]

I also think that when the cops cant catch a gang or a felon,and it gets embarrassing, then the old 'face for the frame' law is invoked.

there's a lot of wanted guys that dont get arrested,the police go get them when they need a face,its usually 'downed' to a much lower punishment.Its like keeping a stock,so to speak.

And on the Whole,they are complete grasses,they will stitch each other up,wholesale.And be

fore the TV 'inquisition' comes out to play,'where do you get your information,how do you know this,yada,yada ,yada.

I know gents, because the copper who looked after my bar was my brother in law and all his family are old bill.'cept the wife of course.

The Istanbul cops used to have a 100% clear up rate. If they couldn't catch the particular person it was out with the big book of mugshots - "These are all guilty men. Pick one".

[Craig krup]

All a bunch of snitches the whole lot of em

I always find this attitude interesting. Let's say there was no CCTV footage of the assault on the elderly couple in Hua Hin so that police had to instead rely on leads from the many bystanders who observed the crime that night. In your world, would you prefer that people didn't "snitch" and tell the police who they saw commit the crime. Would that make for a better society in your opinion? [Any chance you've been on the other side of the law yourself in the past?]

Personally I'm a law and order nut. Having a culture in the citizenry pro-law is the only thing that makes poor countries livable. In a place like Glasgow (Scotland) all it takes is a "No grassing" rule and the whole neighbourhood will be instantly destroyed: Hobbes's state of nature in a couple of months.