Tourist Police forging public network against foreign criminals

[snoop1130]

Tourist Police forging public network against foreign criminals

 

 

BANGKOK, 24th August 2017 (NNT) – Thai Tourist Police have organized training to create a public network to aid in safeguarding visitors to Thailand with the commander of the force calling for 24 hour monitoring of criminals operating in the guise of tourists. 

Commander of the Tourism Police, Pol Maj Gen Prasert Ngernyuang launched the training program for hotel and airport staff and taxi drivers so that they may be added to the force’s “pineapple eye” network. They will be taught how to observe suspicious activities and which incidents require reporting. 

Pol Maj Gen Prasert said there has recently been an uptick in criminals operating in the guise of tourists, blending in to find opportunities to steal goods from genuine travelers, with some stealing bags from conveyor belts at the airport. So far this year, 300 complaints of crime have been reported at Suvarnabhumi Airport alone, with 120 involving foreigners. 

Plain clothed and patrolling tourist police have been ordered to step up their efforts against marauding criminals, and to take serious action against all apprehended.

 

-- nnt 2017-8-24

[ukrules]

Isn't this how the Stasi got started ?

 

Good luck building your secret police force Thailand !

[over it]

31 minutes ago, snoop1130 said:

300 complaints of crime have been reported at Suvarnabhumi Airport alone, with 120 involving foreigners.

It's the baggage handlers!

[Cadbury]

51 minutes ago, snoop1130 said:

"...the training program for hotel and airport staff and taxi drivers...."

Plenty of volunteers for that programme which includes a "much as you can eat" buffet lunch and afternoon nap.

[MarkusAUST]

They're just trying to cut out the competition. I hope the Taxi drivers and Hotel staff ask for a slice of the pie in return.

[TheThaiMe]

1 hour ago, ukrules said:

Isn't this how the Stasi got started ?

 

Good luck building your secret police force Thailand !

Yeah because they are being really secret. Well done!

 

I think we can all agree that getting rid of criminals and catching them is a good idea for all anti-crime organizations around the world.

[Kieran00001]

1 hour ago, ukrules said:

Isn't this how the Stasi got started ?

 

Good luck building your secret police force Thailand !

 

No, it was how they ended up, they started with government, hmmm.

[Ricardo]

" Plain clothed and patrolling tourist police have been ordered to step up their efforts against marauding criminals, and to take serious action against all apprehended. "

 

Gosh, I do hope that the poor innocent jet-ski operators don't accidentally get swept up, in any crackdown on "criminals operating in the guise of tourists". 

[gk10002000]

I am pretty sure the largest criminal threat to tourists are Thais.  Of course there are foreign criminals there, but most are doing their own scams that the average tourist wouldn't be involved with.  Yes there are foreign drug pushers, trying to hang on and stay in Thailand after their money has run out, and other things

[manarak]

always headlines about foreign criminals, yet the prisons are full of Thais.

 

I would like to see some action against all criminals operating in Thailand, not just against foreign criminals which probably only account for a tiny amount of crimes, I guess somewhere around 1 to 5%.

[bendejo]

Was in Fiji a few years back.  Not unusual to hear on the news that police were searching the belongings of some tourists because a hotel's housekeeping staff reported seeing a suspicious-looking package in their room.  Great way to start off your holiday.

My guess is that the staff nicked a small thing (woman travelers have told me that it's not unusual for maids to snatch cosmetics and perfumes, worldwide), got called on it, and the ratting is payback.

 

Sounds like yet another basis for "falang no good!" and the hotel staff gets a little commission from the BiB.

 

 

[Bluespunk]

Pesky foreigners. 

[gk10002000]

3 hours ago, bendejo said:

Was in Fiji a few years back.  Not unusual to hear on the news that police were searching the belongings of some tourists because a hotel's housekeeping staff reported seeing a suspicious-looking package in their room.  Great way to start off your holiday.

My guess is that the staff nicked a small thing (woman travelers have told me that it's not unusual for maids to snatch cosmetics and perfumes, worldwide), got called on it, and the ratting is payback.

 

Sounds like yet another basis for "falang no good!" and the hotel staff gets a little commission from the BiB.

 

 

Oh yes.  All those things do happen, and in many places.  Some of the setups have been very organized and orchestrated.  Don't really know of any way to totally prevent it from happening or how to protect oneself.  Obviously keep your nose clean and toe the straight line.  Highly recommend you don't be a show off and brag about how much money you have.  That can only make you a bigger target.  Try to avoid any argument or confrontation at all costs, even if you are right and they are wrong.  I have had good experiences with the Tourist Police in Pattaya, but every year under a repressive military rule I think things are rougher and tougher.  But if evidence planting and accusations start happening, well, try and have access to cash and bail out money I guess.  Really try to have friends or family you trust be able to send funds if needed.  Keep your assets out of country of course, yet accessible if needed.   Keep backup copies of your passport in places where they can't get to them, i.e. maybe e-mail good color photocopies on file to your self.  If you ever get out of the jail, you can use that to go to your embassy, get the emergency travel passport home.

[over it]

1 hour ago, gk10002000 said:

Oh yes.  All those things do happen, and in many places.  Some of the setups have been very organized and orchestrated.  Don't really know of any way to totally prevent it from happening or how to protect oneself.  Obviously keep your nose clean and toe the straight line.  Highly recommend you don't be a show off and brag about how much money you have.  That can only make you a bigger target.  Try to avoid any argument or confrontation at all costs, even if you are right and they are wrong.  I have had good experiences with the Tourist Police in Pattaya, but every year under a repressive military rule I think things are rougher and tougher.  But if evidence planting and accusations start happening, well, try and have access to cash and bail out money I guess.  Really try to have friends or family you trust be able to send funds if needed.  Keep your assets out of country of course, yet accessible if needed.   Keep backup copies of your passport in places where they can't get to them, i.e. maybe e-mail good color photocopies on file to your self.  If you ever get out of the jail, you can use that to go to your embassy, get the emergency travel passport home.

Or, just leave Thailand and tell everyone you know about the place....

 

Seems like a much safer option!

[Scott]

Inflammatory  post reported and removed.  

 

[Somtamnication]

Thais are notorious snitches. Watch the police arrive at your home when you are gardening. 

[fxe1200]

8 hours ago, manarak said:

always headlines about foreign criminals, yet the prisons are full of Thais.

 

I would like to see some action against all criminals operating in Thailand, not just against foreign criminals which probably only account for a tiny amount of crimes, I guess somewhere around 1 to 5%.

 

The Colin Vard/Ian Rance case comes to my mind. After all these years, there still is no justice for them.

[wavemanwww]

12 hours ago, TheThaiMe said:

Yeah because they are being really secret. Well done!

 

I think we can all agree that getting rid of criminals and catching them is a good idea for all anti-crime organizations around the world.

Wouldn't it be easier to catch the criminals by selling brown envelopes, at a discount price, outside all police stations entrances?

[Monkeyrobot]

13 hours ago, Cadbury said:

Plenty of volunteers for that programme which includes a "much as you can eat" buffet lunch and afternoon nap.

Taxi driver says to customer keep eye on your bag, meter broken that will be 800Baht to Sukhumvit Rd from airport. Enjoy your stay. 

[hansnl]

14 hours ago, ukrules said:

Isn't this how the Stasi got started ?

 

Good luck building your secret police force Thailand !

And what about monitoring Thai criminals, seems to me, numberwise, there might be more of those.

 

 

[Kieran00001]

11 hours ago, manarak said:

always headlines about foreign criminals, yet the prisons are full of Thais.

 

I would like to see some action against all criminals operating in Thailand, not just against foreign criminals which probably only account for a tiny amount of crimes, I guess somewhere around 1 to 5%.

 

In 2014 the police identified 22 foreign gangs operating out of Thailand, they found Russian, French, British, Colombian, Peruvian, Guatemalan, Mexican, German and Romanian gangs here, drug gangs from around the world, biker gangs, foreign run prostitution rings, protection rackets, boiler rooms, skimming gangs and all sorts of organised scams, and then there are the Myanmarese and Laotian drug gangs, the triads and yakuza.  Anyway, obviously this idea of turning of the taxi drivers etc into the pineapple eyes of the police is not also an instruction for the police to stop fighting other crime, it may surprise you but they could actually do both.

[moe666]

8 hours ago, gk10002000 said:

Oh yes.  All those things do happen, and in many places.  Some of the setups have been very organized and orchestrated.  Don't really know of any way to totally prevent it from happening or how to protect oneself.  Obviously keep your nose clean and toe the straight line.  Highly recommend you don't be a show off and brag about how much money you have.  That can only make you a bigger target.  Try to avoid any argument or confrontation at all costs, even if you are right and they are wrong.  I have had good experiences with the Tourist Police in Pattaya, but every year under a repressive military rule I think things are rougher and tougher.  But if evidence planting and accusations start happening, well, try and have access to cash and bail out money I guess.  Really try to have friends or family you trust be able to send funds if needed.  Keep your assets out of country of course, yet accessible if needed.   Keep backup copies of your passport in places where they can't get to them, i.e. maybe e-mail good color photocopies on file to your self.  If you ever get out of the jail, you can use that to go to your embassy, get the emergency travel passport home.

A bit paranoid, been going and coming since 1998 and lived in Chiang Mai for 8 years never any problems with hotel staff or any one else. 

[Bill Miller]

"But if evidence planting and accusations start happening..."
Not unknown even in the good old USA, which seems to be heading down a totalitarian road. 
No place that I can afford seems completely "safe" anymore. 
At least in Bang Saray there are no McDonalds, etc., so I eat a somewhat more healthy diet, and with no automobile I walk more. The real icing is my (IMO) very cute girlfriend comes to visit me regularly.
Worth the inconvenience of the 90 day nonsense, I think.

[gk10002000]

7 hours ago, moe666 said:

A bit paranoid, been going and coming since 1998 and lived in Chiang Mai for 8 years never any problems with hotel staff or any one else. 

I am not para noid.  I have been there 14 times since 2004.  But anybody that travels to a somewhat dangerous country and is un aware or totally un prepared for trouble is a fool in these days

[chama]

This could go wrong in so many ways but historically....oh, right...never mind.

[Kieran00001]

2 minutes ago, Father Fintan Stack said:

So let me get this straight, it's not Thais nicking bags, it's foreigners that fly in to steal bags off the conveyor belts.

 

They really do think we are as stupid as they are.

 

Well there was the Taiwanese guy who got nabbed stealing three bags and admitted that he had been regularly flying into Bangkok without baggage specifically to steal bags from the carousel, so it does happen.

[Golden Triangle]

On 8/24/2017 at 2:26 PM, snoop1130 said:

Plain clothed and patrolling tourist police have been ordered to step up their efforts against marauding criminals, and to take serious action against all apprehended.

 

Don't quite see this going on at any of Thailand's main airports but it has been a while since I visited any of them, will be in Swampy later in September so better keep my wits about me. 

 

ma·raud·ing

məˈrôdiNG/

adjective

 

1. going about in search of things to steal or people to attack.

   "marauding gangs of youths"

   synonyms:

   predatory, rapacious, thieving, plundering, pillaging, looting, freebooting, piratical "marauding Mongols destroyed their village"

[Kieran00001]

18 minutes ago, Golden Triangle said:

Don't quite see this going on at any of Thailand's main airports but it has been a while since I visited any of them, will be in Swampy later in September so better keep my wits about me. 

 

ma·raud·ing

məˈrôdiNG/

adjective

 

1. going about in search of things to steal or people to attack.

   "marauding gangs of youths"

   synonyms:

   predatory, rapacious, thieving, plundering, pillaging, looting, freebooting, piratical "marauding Mongols destroyed their village"

 

Read my above post, there has been at least one foreign marauding serial bag thief caught in the airport.

[Golden Triangle]

4 minutes ago, Kieran00001 said:

 

Read my above post, there has been at least one foreign marauding serial bag thief caught in the airport.

Yeah, I did see that, how long ago was that ? I'm just interested to know, I honestly did not think it was a problem, more likely to have your bags pilfered on their way to the plane. 

[Kieran00001]

7 minutes ago, Golden Triangle said:

Yeah, I did see that, how long ago was that ? I'm just interested to know, I honestly did not think it was a problem, more likely to have your bags pilfered on their way to the plane. 

 

It was a couple of years ago, there have been a couple of bag thieves caught this year in the news but both times it was airport workers.