Thailand Police Target Tourists When They Need Cash Now
Police in Bangkok are ramping up their harassment of tourists, demanding identification, performing strip searches, taking urine samples, and, naturally, collecting fines, according to anecdotes from tourists and locals showing up in the English-language press in Thailand.
Asian Correspondent reports that fines levied include $152 for failure to produce identification and $61 for smoking in most public areas or dropping your butt on the ground, all payable on the spot in cash.
What might be the cause of this frenzy of action? Asian Correspondent speculates:
The jurisdiction of the Thong Lor police department includes many of the venues that formerly opened until the early hours. Since the coup these venues have been closing at their legally required time, and this presumably means less kickbacks to the police. Could these shakedowns be a way to make up the deficit? Could they be a way to build up a kitty for the Thong Lor police department's New Year party by targeting foreigners who do not have the contact networking to oppose them? Could they have something to do with the recent police purge? Or could this just be rogue officers besmirching the good name of the Thong Lor police department?
It's always possible it's just a few bad apples isn't it?
Asian Correspondent suggests tourists contact their local embassies after being targeted by police, and reports that the British ambassador says he brought the issue up with the Minister of Tourism but that the minister denied any "campaign" by police.
Editor's Note: As of February 29, 2024, commenting privileges on reason.com posts are limited to Reason Plus subscribers. Past commenters are grandfathered in for a temporary period. Subscribe here to preserve your ability to comment. Your Reason Plus subscription also gives you an ad-free version of reason.com, along with full access to the digital edition and archives of Reason magazine. We request that comments be civil and on-topic. We do not moderate or assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the readers who post them. Comments do not represent the views of reason.com or Reason Foundation. We reserve the right to delete any comment and ban commenters for any reason at any time. Comments may only be edited within 5 minutes of posting. Report abuses.
Please
to post comments
Or could this just be rogue officers besmirching the good name of the Thong Lor police department?
Sarcasm!
sarcasmic’s influence clearly is growing.
Congrats, sarc!
Oscar Wilde can suck it.
This will be a self-correcting problem as word gets out and tourism declines.
Where else are all the pervs going to go?
SugarFree’s Dungeon?
Dominican Republic?
Epi’s mom’s house?
Cambodia – or so I’ve been told.
Canada
Back of my van?
Germany, home of the world’s largest brothel.
Ahem! It is merely asset forfeiture!
/Thong Lor cops
Word spreads, tourism declines, cops get even less money. Works for me.
Those fines are massive for Thailand. It be like US cops fining UAE tourist 10 grand for failure to show ID.
/I didn’t do any math, it’s really just hyperbole
This is certainly not unique to Thailand. This sort of thing goes on every day all over the US.
US Cops can plaster US flags on their uniforms and all that “protect and serve” drivel on their vehicles, but they are no different than Thai cops.
Yeah, I was looking for the punchline at the end: “Did I say Bangkok? I meant New York City.”
they are no different than Thai cops.
Bullshit. They are much more….um,…Fatter!
Fun fact: The PPP conversion factor for Thailand is 17.2. That means that fine for failure to produce identification works out to over $2,600.
In cash?! Who carries that much?
Police in Bangkok are … performing strip searches, taking urine samples, and, naturally, collecting fines
for indecent exposure.
I buy almost everything except food and clothing from online auctions most people aren’t aware of the almost I unbelievable deals that they can get from online auction sites the site that has the best deals is…..
BEST HOME BASE GIFT——– http://snipr.com/29inp5v
From the story I gather that the police are no longer content to let the bulk of the bribes go to their bosses.