News Forum - Taiwanese actress warns tourists to be aware of Thailand’s ‘bastard police’

[Thaiger]

A famous Taiwanese actress warned foreign tourists coming to Thailand to be aware of the kingdom’s “bastard police!” The actress revealed on social media that the Royal Thai Police (RTP) extorted 27,000 baht from her and her friends on fake, trumped-up charges while they were travelling in Thailand at the beginning of this month. The …

The story Taiwanese actress warns tourists to be aware of Thailand’s ‘bastard police’ as seen on Thaiger News.

Read the full story

[ExpatPattaya]

Checkpoints for Taxis?  They had checkpoints during Covid after curfew, and they have drunk driving checkpoints, but never heard of checkpoints for people in a taxi to check Visa paperwork?  You cannot get through immigration without proper papers, so not a police matter, an immigration matter

[Pompies]

Hands up anyone who is surprised by this. A farang friend of mine was stung for a larger amount in what was obviously a sting operation. And of course those of us who have lived in Thailand know that the police wrote to book on corruption. No nighttime business however fully licensed and above board it is can trade without paying protection money to more than one police station. They even tried to get my partner to continue to pay even though the business was not allowed to trade for over a year. So such stories might shock people from other countries but are an everyday occurrence for Thai people.

[HolyCowCm]

44 minutes ago, ExpatPattaya said:

Checkpoints for Taxis?  They had checkpoints during Covid after curfew, and they have drunk driving checkpoints, but never heard of checkpoints for people in a taxi to check Visa paperwork?  You cannot get through immigration without proper papers, so not a police matter, an immigration matter

Seems they are back in action. Asoke and then further down Suhkumvit is where they prey on foreingers. But I am seriously amazed that they hassled her and her friend this hard. I am always looking up the street in advance when walking in that area and I don't like taking taxis up Ratchadaphisek rd at night for this one reason. 

[jonga]

8 hours ago, HolyCowCm said:

Seems they are back in action. Asoke and then further down Suhkumvit is where they prey on foreingers. But I am seriously amazed that they hassled her and her friend this hard. I am always looking up the street in advance when walking in that area and I don't like taking taxis up Ratchadaphisek rd at night for this one reason. 

Yeah, in 2020 they stopped my taxi in that area, and they frisked us and asked also about our visas. But everything ok.

[Soidog]

This isn’t news. It’s business as usual. I see the police have responded by saying they didn’t extort money and it was all associated with vaporisers. Yeah, right!   
 

Can’t we find some better articles to discuss than this nonsense?

 

[HolyCowCm]

2 hours ago, jonga said:

Yeah, in 2020 they stopped my taxi in that area, and they frisked us and asked also about our visas. But everything ok.

Frisked you? That’s total BS. But after hearing many stories it is definitely part of their nasty dishonorable corrupt way. I have only part the  check point in a taxi and have been lucky. When walking in the are I have seen them as well but they never bugged me. But they sure do give me the creeps. 

[HiuMak]

I will just dial 1155 on these police and let them deal with their own.

[Bluesofa]

About twelve years ago I was walking near a main road in the Bang Na area of Bangkok.

It was late afternoon and a guy on a motorcycle pulled up. He was wearing a jacket with 'Police" on it.
He demanded to know where I was going.
Instead of telling him, I asked him in Thai why he wanted to know.
He told me it was a dangerous place, and he could take me somewhere safer. I laughed at him and said I'd never felt scared walking anywhere in Thailand.

I wondered if he was really a policeman - many people seem to have a jacket with the word "Police" on the back. I asked him why his motorbike registration wasn't a police registration (even though many police do use their own vehicles).
He swore and drove off.

[BOHICA]

She's getting WAY too much free press out of this BS...

[stapoz]

She should call her embassy and describe the problem. If it failed at night, she should call in the morning and demand clarification. The police are very concerned about foreign embassies because the case quickly goes to the superiors

[thingamabob]

They may have been off-duty police, or former police, or civilians posing as police. All these categories have been found guilty of extortion in the past. Or they may indeed have been on-duty police. Very difficult for victims to distinguish which category is harassing them. The fact is though, whoever was involved in this case, it is seriously bad for Thailand's image.

[Viggen840]

1 hour ago, stapoz said:

She should call her embassy and describe the problem. If it failed at night, she should call in the morning and demand clarification. The police are very concerned about foreign embassies because the case quickly goes to the superiors

Or she should have demanded Tourist Police be present.

[SteveAitch]

You can retrieve deleted videos with the right software...

[Soidog]

6 hours ago, thingamabob said:

The fact is though, whoever was involved in this case, it is seriously bad for Thailand's image.

Albeit a more realistic image of Thailand. 

[MrStretch]

It seems that the Grab driver that was with her disputes her statements. 

He says she was drunk and argumentative and he never saw any police take her or them off to a spot that couldn't be seen by cameras.

Unless he has been coerced or persuaded to lie for the b-i-b, she might very well wind up with a lot of egg on her face, especially after she says she is going to contact Interpol about the "incident".

[Soidog]

1 hour ago, MrStretch said:

It seems that the Grab driver that was with her disputes her statements. 

He says she was drunk and argumentative and he never saw any police take her or them off to a spot that couldn't be seen by cameras.

Unless he has been coerced or persuaded to lie for the b-i-b, she might very well wind up with a lot of egg on her face, especially after she says she is going to contact Interpol about the "incident".

It’s not entirely impossible that this is all being made up. But why would a well know Taiwanese actress choose to pick on a group of Thai police like this?  What would be her motive to fabricate something like this? 

[BJoe]

Welcome to Thailand.         Key point is why police checkpoints are  stopping taxis of any other public transportation, and asking for passport/visa  info from tourist  in wee hours of morning ?  And when confronted by authorities nowadays, everybody records on their phones. If no recordings available, the probability that the police had them delete is believable.  The “image” that Thais are so concerned about is laughable. Corruption is systematic, and ingrained within.

[Soidog]

The fact is, that we foreigners, expats or tourists see only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to corrupt police. Being a Thai and trying to make a proper business work or even operate a noodle stall is far harder. The Thai police are a disgrace to the word police. They are corrupt from top to bottom and steal far more off their own than they do anyone else. Sickening! 

[Cabra]

On 1/26/2023 at 9:08 PM, jonga said:

Yeah, in 2020 they stopped my taxi in that area, and they frisked us and asked also about our visas. But everything ok.

Same for me in 2018. About 3am on Sukhumvit. When they checked my pockets the women I was with was screaming at the cop "show me your hands" (she thought for certain they would plant drugs). After a bit of tension and a chat, we cleared. Unsettling. Happy I was with a Thai who had the courage to push back.