Happy Fourth of July - US man donates 500,000 to Thai police

[DeeThai]

beter t0 give for Orphelinat 0r Hospital or School :-( but for Corrupt Police no Way :-)

[tukkytuktuk]

Amazing Thailand!

Why did he donate half a million baht to the police? He is a foreigner, not a Thai. Me thinks he wants to bribe them to go easy on him in Udon. If they see him he has they're protection. A security blanket for the guy. Make friends with the sheriff. Daft man doesn't realize that the police will want another donation regularly now he's known as a rich farang. Silly fool, wait 2 years and he'll be in the obituaries section of the newspapers with the words unexplained death or suicide written down as cause of death. Dic

[SABloke]

Sounds to me like he is doing a good deed and helping out some up-country cops who get paid peanuts to do their jobs, many of which find themselves in serious financial hardship (especially the ones trying to do an honest job without taking kickbacks. Yes, its true, some do not take bribes). If it was a payoff for protection, it wouldn't be a public donation like this. Come on TV'ers, put your cynicism away for one day. Not all cops in Thailand are bad. Believe it or not, you may rely on them to save your skin one day.

Hi Jim, I thought you might be a TV member

[anto]

beter t0 give for Orphelinat 0r Hospital or School :-( but for Corrupt Police no Way :-)

Well it states that they have also given to other Charities as well .

[trainman34014]

Those crazy Yanks and their over the top tips !

[canuckamuck]

Rules and regulations just got a whole lot softer for this guy.

Maybe he could post something here and let us know how much mileage he gets out of his 500k?

[DLang]

His neighbors better hope he doesn't have a problem with them.

[lemonjelly]

Buying influential friends....

[gdgbb]

How's about the poor hill tribes folk?

What about all the very poor people who suffer hardships in

their everyday lives,I am sure that would have been a much

better choice,

you load of cynics! why give to orphans the poor or disabled give to the Police! DJJamie will be proud

Maybe he would be better thought of here if he contributed to an educational fund for Thaivisa posters who cannot read?...

"Jum, 46, who works at Hot Zone 91.5 said that they want to help society. They have already contributed to projects to help needy schools, country clinics and orphanages in the province but have now decided to help the police."

[gdgbb]

He has his benefit already. Making a show of giving. I have a lot more respect for someone who gives anonymously.

How does that work then, how do you know when to give all that respect to a donor who gives anonymously?

[gdgbb]

They do not get paid peanuts in Thai terms, they also get pensions and free health care, that's why you often have to pay a heavy bribe to join. Then there are the other perks of course

You obviously have not seen the salary scales for the RTP, they are very poorly paid. They get pensions that they have to pay for, not free pensions, and they do not get free health care.

[jlwilliamsjr18]

We can all assume he gets a life-time,

Get Out of Jail Free card

[kinmaew]

Complete moron only propagating bribery and corruption - Which polices forces around the world accept cash payments? Only in the most poorest corrupt countries aka Thailand. Who is the one with all the money that should really be funding this?

[soalbundy]

Real benevolent donations done without the fanfare and photo opp.....

the fact the donor will benefit from his generosity someday,

is not lost on anyone....

He has his benefit already. Making a show of giving. I have a lot more respect for someone who gives anonymously.

This is Thailand,the idea of giving is to raise your status and be,especially in this case, untouchable, no doubt he has enough left to make a donation to the immigration police as well.

[metisdead]

A profane post in ALL CAPS has been removed.

[SOTIRIOS]

...good for him....

...wish I had a friend like him....

[Sooo Upto Me]

Crawler, wot a fool if he had any sense or knowledge of the Thai police or government over here he wouldn't even give them a wai.

[Gecko123]

I think the performance of the Thai police has greatly improved in the past 2 years. Many Thais I speak to concur with this assessment.

His generous donation should be applauded for the goodwill it has generated between the police and the expat community.

[monkey4u]

Looks like the Merc payments are taken care of for a few months

[F4UCorsair]

That's 500,000 BAHT, not $$. Only about 20,000 Australian $$, so nothing to get too excited about, and doesn't brand him a rich man.

It won't go far, unless they just divvy it up between them, and even then, not very far. Interest on that, even at, say, 5% (I saw online that the going rate on savings is 2.8%!!) only brings in B25,000 per annum. At 2.8%, it's even less.....about B14,000!! What will that do?

But if the guy feels good donating to what he sees as a worthy cause, then who are the rest of us to question his motive??

[Redline]

Why did he pose in a picture? He wants something. It's not selfless generosity.

[gchurch259]

"No good turn goes unpunished" !! Reading these post is always interesting, someone does something bad they beat them up and someone does something good, so they beat him up anyway !! There is always too much Bovine Fertilizer posted here, including mine !!

I comment these folks for being generous, even if some consider misguided.

[andy85]

What a worthwhile cause! Isn't this the same police station that was caught up in kidnapping story a few months ago?

My wife and I drove to Udon Thani after receiving a letter from this police station saying they had a 70,000 baht refund for her father, from a disputed fine. After driving halfway across the country, the kind sergeant informed my wife that in fact they decided to keep the money for themselves, as they 'didn't trust' her father, and involving a lawyer would 'cause a lot of problems for your family'.

[kiwikeith]

This guy's either clever or soft... bought himself potential protection or opened the floodgates. There are good uns, but most cops do alright with 'other' avenues for making money. How's about the poor hill tribes folk?

I would say clever, must have a lot of loot to give it away especialy to Police.

The motive will keep us guessing but my guess would be to aid his better detriment.

[quandow]

Father Ray Foundation could have put that money to better use.

[elgordo38]

Congratulations kind sir. You have just marked yourself for possible kidnap attempts and furthermore, you kindly gave your address and the location of your good wife at her work, if she isn't at home. Well done that man.

Visions of grandeur or more money than brains. No finger pointing?. Should replenish the coffers that were drawn down by silver tray handouts in the Bangkok explosion or the BB trial. Seriously its a nice gesture he must see something in the BIB that I have totally missed. What did W.C. Fields say again?? Dang my memory is leaving me.

[cockatoowho]

What about all the very poor people who suffer hardships in

their everyday lives,I am sure that would have been a much

better choice, Police Vs Poor who is your choice,the only

time I donate to the Police is when I have done something and

then its only 200 THB.

regards worgeordie P.S. The cops on the right of the photo don't look very happy,

they must know they are never going to see a Bhat.

Can't agree more, like helping the innocent breadwinner banged up by this Mafia, a couple of old pensioners done for mushroom picking immediately comes to mind.

[BlindMagician]

Bribing police, advertising it as "benevolent"...TIT.

[Sooo Upto Me]

Real benevolent donations done without the fanfare and photo opp.....

the fact the donor will benefit from his generosity someday,

is not lost on anyone....

He has his benefit already. Making a show of giving. I have a lot more respect for someone who gives anonymously.

Oh god, please understand the logic here. The guy give money to police they so happy, gf work in bar as dj so now police will not go bar if open after hours. An pay tea money. Everything sorted.

Get it now.

[elgordo38]

She does have the face for radio though.

He may be far sighted and put his hands on the wrong lady. That little robust cutie to the left looks well more appealing.