Why does Thailand have a police department?

[watcharacters]

 

 

 

Of course i know someone has to man the  checkpoints but I wonder beyond that.

 

I know if i have an auto accident the first call I should make is to the insurance company.   

 

What is the defined  function of the Thailand police departments?

 

I've been told by friends  who have had accidents that there is  a fee to be paid to the police for showing up  at an accident and making a report but as far as I know that could be falsehood.     But I've also been told the same applies to a home robbery/bulgary.

 

If  a house is burgled  should a person call the police?   I wonder if  the Thailand  police   show up and if so how soon after they receive notification of the call.

 

So again, what is the purpose   of the Thailand  police Department.     Could the  Thailand army accomplish the same function with less paperwork?

 

Who would you call if you had an issue such as a home burglary or a traffic accident and what would you hope for?        Do you have any faith in the police?   Many of my friends just tell me to avoid them.   I'm asking for opinions

 

 

I'm making an information seeking post so please try not to turn it in to a bashing thread.    Help mods..

 

 

[NancyL]

OK, I'll start.  I do know of cases where they've helped foreigners, esp. elderly foreign residents who have become disoriented, injured or drunk.  Here's one example from Chiang Mai.  An older guy was here by himself and having trouble managing his medications, the heat, and probably wasn't adjusting well to the change in diet and maybe more alcohol than he was used to.  He collapsed in the Old City and a nearby policeman was called, who went thru his pockets and discovered not much of anything.  The guy was almost unconscious, so he was packed off the Suan Dok Hospital -- the gov't hospital associated with Chiang Mai University.  By the time he got to their emergency room, he was in a coma, unable to communicate.

 

The hospital had no way of identifying the man or even knowing his nationality to figure out which Embassy to call.  So the policeman took it upon himself to go around, on foot, to all the guest houses, hostels and hotels near where the guy had been found and ask to see their records, i.e. the copies they're suppose to make of the photo page of the guest's passport.  After visiting about 25 places, he found a passport photo and description that matched the guy in the hospital and got the appropriate Consulate involved.  This policeman did visit the guy in the hospital while he was still in a coma to get a better look at him, but he didn't come back when he regained consciousness to ask for a "reward" or anything.

 

Eventually, the man regained his health enough to return to his home country, with the assistance of his Consulate.  Fortunately, he was from one of the countries where the local Consulates actually help out in cases like this.

[rijb]

Think of them as paid security guards.  You pay.  And they're secure.

[Deepinthailand]

I can only speak as I find. never once have any dealings I've had with the police here been anything but professional. They have gone out of there way to make me feel welcome and have always answered my questions honestly they have supplied me with certs of residence for free. So I have no reason to say anything but good about them.  I once broke down on a remote road how or why a off duty policeman happened along I will never know but he did and towed me to my front door about 15 kicks.  Needless to say we had a few drinks and some money changed hands which as he was off duty is no problem. 

[chiang mai]

I've had my share of dealings with the police here and I've always found them helpful and reasonable - one found in my favour in a road traffic accident, another came to the house and told us they'd caught the guy who burgled us - never been stopped with out due cause and never been fined without good reason. FWIW I call the police first and the insurance company second in the event of an accident, I like having them around when things could get contentious.

[Get Real]

An information seeking post? How would it be if you got your own facts straight then. Just the question of why a country have a police force is just not made out from common sense.
Ask yourself why your own country have a police force? Probably to uphold the law. Am I right? That there are smaller or bigger amount of corruption and that some people just don´t like to work, has nothing to do with having a police force or not. Just a component that measures it´s effectiveness.

[malt25]

If you really want to know ...  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Thai_Police

I find ones attitude toward the police can be a big factor in the treatment you receive.

Just my thought though.

[nausea]

Take away the police force and see what happens.

[Genmai]

Some time ago when I was new to Thailand an acquaintance of ours invited my partner and I to visit her Lahu hill-tribe "friend" in the hills of Chiang Rai because she did not want to go up there alone. The "friend" turned out to be an unstable guy with a drinking problem and romantic interests in our acquaintance. He kept drinking, started yelling and getting rowdy and eventually grabbed a big knife. We slowly stood up and backed out of the bamboo hut and started walking to the main road. The time was about 1am and it was pitch black outside. We realised just how stupid and naïve we had been about the whole thing: we were out in the middle of no-where (the Lahu guys had driven us out to their village), our relatives did not know where we were, all our belongings were in the hut with a crazy drunk Lahu guy and all we had were our pyjamas and my partner's cell phone. By a stroke of luck we had a tiny bit of coverage and promptly called the police.

 

The police triangulated our location and were there within 30 minutes. The whole time they stayed on the phone with us. When they arrived they took us up to the hut, held back the hill-tribe guy while we collected our things and then drove us down to a hotel in town. The first 10 minutes in the car together with us they were coldly grilling us with questions about why we were there. When they realised that we were really just some overly trusting dumb tourists that had made a mistake they relaxed a bit and said "Ok, we see. We are asking you this because that particular village is famous for heroin production". The rest of the way we laughed and joked about stuff and at the end they took a photo with us in front of our hotel, big grins and thumbs up from us. They sent it to their bosses via Line to "show that they really are out doing work".

 

Seeing them coming for us up the mountain road that night in their pickup was the biggest amount of relief I have ever experienced. Had they not come for us I think the three of us might not be alive today and no-one would have known what had happened to us.

 

There is a lot about Thailand that grinds my gears. Here where I live in Chiang Mai every single day of the past year a black plume of smoke from burning plastic rubbish and leaves starts coming up from a neighbour's yard at 5pm on the dot, every day. There is a police box standing about 40-50 metres away. Nothing ever gets done about that burning, or about the loud bikes racing up and down the freeway at night. Things like that grind my gears and make me question the effectiveness of law enforcement in this country. But every time I am also reminded that had it not been for the help of the Chiang Rai police department that night, I would likely not be here today.

[Kwasaki]

18 hours ago, watcharacters said:

Who would you call if you had an issue such as a home burglary or a traffic accident and what would you hope for?        Do you have any faith in the police?   Many of my friends just tell me to avoid them.   I'm asking for opinions

 

" Home burglary " ..... Would be unlikely but wife would deal with it.

" Traffic accident " ....Call police family and police friends.

" I've been told by friends."  Glad there not my friends and my opinion is there ignorant.

[nausea]

It's a deterrent. I would definitely not like to live in a country without a police force, whatever their deficiencies. 

[BudRight]

17 hours ago, malt25 said:

If you really want to know ...  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Thai_Police

I find ones attitude toward the police can be a big factor in the treatment you receive.

Just my thought though.

 

Would have though the converse should be true; that the treatment you receive should determine one's attitude. Otherwise you're just claiming that your pre-conceived notions are better than the next guy's.

[malt25]

7 hours ago, BudRight said:

 

Would have though the converse should be true; that the treatment you receive should determine one's attitude. Otherwise you're just claiming that your pre-conceived notions are better than the next guy's.

Maybe they are better.

[NanLaew]

20 hours ago, Genmai said:

Some time ago when I was new to Thailand an acquaintance of ours invited my partner and I to visit her Lahu hill-tribe "friend" in the hills of Chiang Rai because she did not want to go up there alone. The "friend" turned out to be an unstable guy with a drinking problem and romantic interests in our acquaintance. He kept drinking, started yelling and getting rowdy and eventually grabbed a big knife. We slowly stood up and backed out of the bamboo hut and started walking to the main road. The time was about 1am and it was pitch black outside. We realised just how stupid and naïve we had been about the whole thing: we were out in the middle of no-where (the Lahu guys had driven us out to their village), our relatives did not know where we were, all our belongings were in the hut with a crazy drunk Lahu guy and all we had were our pyjamas and my partner's cell phone. By a stroke of luck we had a tiny bit of coverage and promptly called the police.

 

The police triangulated our location and were there within 30 minutes. The whole time they stayed on the phone with us. When they arrived they took us up to the hut, held back the hill-tribe guy while we collected our things and then drove us down to a hotel in town. The first 10 minutes in the car together with us they were coldly grilling us with questions about why we were there. When they realised that we were really just some overly trusting dumb tourists that had made a mistake they relaxed a bit and said "Ok, we see. We are asking you this because that particular village is famous for heroin production". The rest of the way we laughed and joked about stuff and at the end they took a photo with us in front of our hotel, big grins and thumbs up from us. They sent it to their bosses via Line to "show that they really are out doing work".

 

Seeing them coming for us up the mountain road that night in their pickup was the biggest amount of relief I have ever experienced. Had they not come for us I think the three of us might not be alive today and no-one would have known what had happened to us.

 

There is a lot about Thailand that grinds my gears. Here where I live in Chiang Mai every single day of the past year a black plume of smoke from burning plastic rubbish and leaves starts coming up from a neighbour's yard at 5pm on the dot, every day. There is a police box standing about 40-50 metres away. Nothing ever gets done about that burning, or about the loud bikes racing up and down the freeway at night. Things like that grind my gears and make me question the effectiveness of law enforcement in this country. But every time I am also reminded that had it not been for the help of the Chiang Rai police department that night, I would likely not be here today.

So the same police that you castigate for turning a blind eye to the noisy motorbikes and leaf burners in the town also do the same to heroin factories in remote Lahu villages. Nice to see that if anything, they appear quite consistent in their apathy.

 

Now, do you know what really grinds my gears?

[impulse]

I've never been mugged on the street, never had my home burglarized, nor my pocket picked in almost 6 years of exploring the nooks and crannies of Bangkok's markets- mostly for tools and materials- not just the tourist markets.

 

Look at the economic disparity in BKK, and that says something about the popo.  I don't flash cash, but I'm a pretty obvious anomaly (spelled t-a-r-g-e-t) in most of those places.

 

Most of my interactions with the non-traffic cops?  They warn me, "Please watch for pickpockets, sir".

 

Traffic cops?  A little different, but nothing that hasn't been fun above the piddly cost of the tea money I've donated.  Always ends with a handshake and smiles.

[Genmai]

2 hours ago, NanLaew said:

So the same police that you castigate for turning a blind eye to the noisy motorbikes and leaf burners in the town also do the same to heroin factories in remote Lahu villages. Nice to see that if anything, they appear quite consistent in their apathy.

 

Now, do you know what really grinds my gears?

 

Sorry, next time when in their "apathy" they come to pull me and two others out of the jungle in the middle of the night I will make sure to chastise them on your behalf for not doing enough to protect the people.

[NanLaew]

24 minutes ago, Genmai said:

 

Sorry, next time when in their "apathy" they come to pull me and two others out of the jungle in the middle of the night I will make sure to chastise them on your behalf for not doing enough to protect the people.

 

Probably beat a fast track to save your happy asses from the jungle before you stumbled across the heroin factory.

 

I much prefer castigation to chastisement BTW.

[wildewillie89]

They also deal with a lot of civil cases to clear up court time. So if it is like a defaming case in the public eye, instead of going through the courts the police will mediate the case. Like all countries if there are incidents the police will investigate. Such as a fight, the police are called to the fight. If someone ends up in hospital, the police attend the hospital to question the victim. I dont understand the post...They do exactly the same things as all other country police departments do, maybe just a little bit more lazy and corrupt about it. Which is no different from any other department in third world countries. And they have checkpoints rather than chasing cars down. 
 

[NanLaew]

3 minutes ago, wildewillie89 said:

... They do exactly the same things as all other country police departments do. ...

 

All together kids, "Oh no they don't!"

 

Everyone loves a pantomime no?

[wildewillie89]

6 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

 

All together kids, "Oh no they don't!"

 

Everyone loves a pantomime no?

 

Not a fan of the police? Guess opinions are formed from experiences had, as i don't think any of us have done a full investigative report of them. The highest level may be a little different, but 'uniform' policing is pretty standard to most places.

[NanLaew]

18 minutes ago, wildewillie89 said:

 

Not a fan of the police? Guess opinions are formed from experiences had, as i don't think any of us have done a full investigative report of them. The highest level may be a little different, but 'uniform' policing is pretty standard to most places.

 

Not a case of being a police fanboy but more of taking you to task on the fanciful claim that the RTP "do exactly the same things as all other country police departments do." My father and my maternal grandfather were cops so maybe that's clouded my judgement. What's your excuse?

 

They do SOME of the things that other country's police forces do but there's a whole lot that other country's police forces do that the RTP do not. At the top of that list is consistent and accountable law enforcement. Next?

 

In the grand scheme of things, the RTP serve only as some degree of balance against the other 'career' uniformed branch, that's all. Most countries with a tenuous or fragile grasp on democracy and endemic corruption such as Mexico and Brazil have similar, conveniently layered, relatively unaccountable, dual or multiple militias.

[1FinickyOne]

I live in a small village - - my personal experience has all been positive... though not in my immediate area, 2x my car has been hit by other vehicles... both times I was glad that the police were there. Once, on the scene, the policeman got angry with the guy who rear ended me when I was stopped at a traffic light... as the guy tried to blame it on me... both times, the police were fair and found in my favor...

 

Locally, they have been here at music events when there was drinking and teenagers and did a good job of keeping things in check. 

 

When I first moved here, before I had my car, the local police officer used to pick me up and give me rides home or to town if he saw me walking. 

 

So, no complaints here upcountry in my neck of the woods...

[wildewillie89]

45 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

 

Not a case of being a police fanboy but more of taking you to task on the fanciful claim that the RTP "do exactly the same things as all other country police departments do." My father and my maternal grandfather were cops so maybe that's clouded my judgement. What's your excuse?

 

They do SOME of the things that other country's police forces do but there's a whole lot that other country's police forces do that the RTP do not. At the top of that list is consistent and accountable law enforcement. Next?

 

In the grand scheme of things, the RTP serve only as some degree of balance against the other 'career' uniformed branch, that's all. Most countries with a tenuous or fragile grasp on democracy and endemic corruption such as Mexico and Brazil have similar, conveniently layered, relatively unaccountable, dual or multiple militias.

 

I naturally purely speak of issues surrounding day to day practices. Uniform work. Investigative, crime prevention, etc etc. Accountability comes in forms of the position a country is in. Naturally, a richer country pays higher wages and also can afford to pay higher wages to those agencies in charge of making sure things are done the right way. We cant blame the police department necessarily for the country they work in, I am sure if the West were in similar economic positions accountability will suffer also.

 

Like I said, opinions come from personal experiences. Your opinion came from family circumstances, as does mine. I have been around in police vans as part of my study back in Australia. So i got a good idea of what day to day work involves. In terms of in Thai, my uncle is the boss of police in my city and my cousins are police also, so I guess, for me, they not only do exactly what all other police departments do, but a little bit more. 

[watcharacters]

On 11/30/2016 at 4:29 AM, Get Real said:

An information seeking post? How would it be if you got your own facts straight then. Just the question of why a country have a police force is just not made out from common sense.
Ask yourself why your own country have a police force? Probably to uphold the law. Am I right? That there are smaller or bigger amount of corruption and that some people just don´t like to work, has nothing to do with having a police force or not. Just a component that measures it´s effectiveness.

 

WOW.     I won't say you sound tightly wrapped but I would highly recommend you consider taking a double dose of chill pills, my friend.      Please try to relax and take a deep breath..   

 

I missed seeing where I stated any facts FYI.

 

Cheers.

[rodknock]

it is a way to make money!

[wildewillie89]

10 hours ago, rodknock said:

it is a way to make money!

 

Not entirely.  To promote more reporting of crime fines are divided between two groups. The government get half and the person who initially reported the offence gets half. If it was a way to make money then surely the police would keep 100%. But in saying that the checkpoints seem to be a way to make a bit of extra cash for the holiday season, but then again, all countries have increased police presence during holiday seasons.

[gk10002000]

I called the tourist police once in Pattaya a few years ago.  The room got flooded from the toilet and unusable but the lady that owned the guest house took off to bangkok with the weeks rent and stopped returning my calls!  so I was out the money and pretty mad.  The cops came, the older guy had pretty good english and when he called her number she picked up and they had a chat.  She then called me back and was really mad.  I said too bad.  I gave you all day to work something out.  Now I had a record and of course I still didn't get paid until the next day but I did get my money back.  I am sure she would have done nothing had I not called the cops.  I gave the cops lunch money and enough for a few changs and said thank you.

[01322521959]

They can be very helpful. About 15 years ago my then Thai girlfriend disappeared with my log book to my motorbike. I went along to the Police station and the chap there tracked down her home address and I eventually got my log book back. I remember getting a load of pizzas at 7/11 for them by way of thanks.

[localczar]

its a place to conduct financial transactions while being extorted.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

They're a "business" entity, kind of the Thai version of the famous Marlon Brando movie.  Fill in the blanks from there on out...