The Bangkok Times

[pdogg]

Of course this goes on, but did you ever get searched?

 

 

I still have never met or spoken to anyone who has actually been stopped and searched themselves.

No, I haven't ever been searched.

 

But I have spoken with 3 guys who were searched at Ekkamai; 2 of those guys I know well.

 

This was 5 years ago and surprised me.  All these incidents were ar Ekkamai.  I have never spoken with anyone searched anywhere else.

[Gordonbennet]

No, I haven't ever been searched.

 

But I have spoken with 3 guys who were searched at Ekkamai; 2 of those guys I know well.

 

This was 5 years ago and surprised me.  All these incidents were ar Ekkamai.  I have never spoken with anyone searched anywhere else.

 

Ekkamai attracts the hi so Thai crowd, so there are lots of drugs for the police to be searching for there. 

[pdogg]

Sorry GB, I should have been more specific.  I'm not talking about the Ekkamai area; I'm talking about outside Ekkamai Bus Station.  But as I said, this was a long time ago.

 

I do agree that the media sensationalizes things and the recent stories are most probably blown way out of proportion.

[Gordonbennet]

Sorry GB, I should have been more specific.  I'm not talking about the Ekkamai area; I'm talking about outside Ekkamai Bus Station.  But as I said, this was a long time ago.

 

I do agree that the media sensationalizes things and the recent stories are most probably blown way out of proportion.

 

Ah yes, the bus station story,I remember that!

 

All those stories of guys who got busted by the police for having Viagra in their bags when they were taking the bus to Pattaya. 

There was indeed a problem there, but it got fixed.

 

I hope nobody is deciding not to visit Thailand because of stories like this, as its really not an issue at all. 

[SiamSam]

Interesting article femboyBob. And welcome to the forum BTW.

[pdogg]

 

A 32-year-old man was arrested yesterday for raping a college student in her apartment in the Phasi Charoen district by disguising himself as a food delivery man.

Police said Chitsanupong Sa-onklang saw the 20-year-old victim last Thursday at a food vendor, where she told the merchant her room number to have food delivered. He stalked her to her apartment in Soi Petchkasem 28.

Chitsanupong then told the victim that her food had arrived, tricking her into opening the door, according to police.

After she opened the door, Chitsanupong claimed to be a soldier and needed to search her room, requesting she stay still. He handcuffed her and raped her while using her phone to film the rape. He threatened her not to go to the police, authorities said.

Chitsanupong worked as a security guard for a village in nearby Soi Petchkasem 81, which is why he was carrying handcuffs.

After that, he escaped to his hometown in Buriram and took a job in a sugar cane farm before being arrested yesterday.

Police do not believe Chitsanupong's claim this was his first rape and are encouraging other victims, who might have been blackmailed, to file a report at Phasi Charoen police department, Khaosod and Manager reported.

http://bangkok.coconuts.co//2014/12/04/man-fakes-food-delivery-rape-woman-her-apartment

[Trenton42]

No, I haven't ever been searched.

 

But I have spoken with 3 guys who were searched at Ekkamai; 2 of those guys I know well.

 

This was 5 years ago and surprised me.  All these incidents were ar Ekkamai.  I have never spoken with anyone searched anywhere else.

 

I have been stopped at Ekkamai.  And have 3 friends who have been stopped just east of Soi 23, on Soi 22, and just west of Pra Kanong.  

 

The Pra Kanong guy I've known for 15 years.  He was so upset after the search, he decided to move to AC.

[Trenton42]

The Thonglor department has always been that way, I don't think the military have affected their behaviour much, its just being reported more.

 

There were stories of piss tests being conducted by police behind cars around Asoke 10 years ago, and i thought they were hyperbole back then.

 

I travel through Asoke 5 days a week and have done so for 6 years, and before that lived on Soi 22 and have never, been stopped and searched once. I don't know anyone else who has been either. 

 

It just seems like another case of internet panicking/doom mongering, which usually means a big increase in traffic for any website that specialises in the topic of BKK nightlife....

 

 

Having been stopped at Ekkamai myself and having friends that have been stopped elsewhere in the Thong Lor precinct, I believe the reports that the number of stops have escalated.  

 

I deal with it by staying out of the Thong Lor precinct. As much as I enjoy Darkside and some of the other shops in the area, it's just not worth the risk.  CIB opens earlier than Darkside, has more girls, and no problem with police in the area.  Sounds like a no brainer.

 

There have been absolutely no reports of the police planting anything on anyone during these searches, but who's to say they won't start.

 

Businesses (like Darkside) that pay money to the police should start raising a fuss; after all, it affects their business.  And hopefully the military will see the articles and do something about it.

 

But I understand your point; maybe the searches haven't escalated and they're just being reported more.  IMO, it doesn't matter because the searches shouldn't be happening at all!

[JustSumGai]

I agree with the guy that posted that he believes the POLICE do NOT like the military interference in their corruption.

 

http://bangkok.coconuts.co//2014/12/04/surge-reported-police-harassment-suggests-campaign-targeting-tourists-expats

[zaronxas]

I live on Ekkamai.  Never been searched but two cops did try to shake me down once.  Was a haphazard affair and didn't lead to me getting in trouble or having to bribe anyone.

 

Sort of disconcerting to see these guys are ramping up their corruption though. 

[pdogg]

 

 

two cops did try to shake me down once. 

What'd they do Z?

[zaronxas]

I was standing on the curb trying to hail a cab, admittedly dressed like a clueless tourist.  The two of them pulled up on a motorbike and the senior guy stood back and sent his young apprentice over.

 

The younger cop started asking a bunch of questions like: where are you from, what are you doing, why are you outside.  The older cop stood around staring (glaring) at me.

 

This persisted for like 10 minutes as I politely answered his questions but didn't pay much attention to him otherwise.

 

Finally he asked where I lived and I pointed to the high rise across the street.  Then I asked him if he worked for the Ekkamai police and whether he'd like to verify my residence with the doorman.   They both seemed disinclined to ask me anymore questions and got on their motorbike and rode away.

 

Essentially I was polite and acted dumb and put the onus on them to openly demand a bribe. 

[pdogg]

 

 

Essentially I was polite and acted dumb and put the onus on them to openly demand a bribe. 

 Playing dumb is a good tactic! 

 

Here's the latest from Stickboy:

 

 

Police at Thonglor District have said on the record foreigners / tourists have the right to say “no” if police ask you to do drug test.

The quotes will be published in an article coming in the next few days from a major global news outlet who followed up on the growing concern from expats and tourists at the random stop and searches around the Sukhumvit / Asoke area of Bangkok where officers are asking for urine samples for an on the spot drug test.

 

Other quotes from the interview have been shared with me off the record and are incredible. In fact a better description would be laughable and as expected, blame is shifted to others and there has been no wrong doing by officers working out of that police district according to the ranking policeman interviewed for the article.

http://www.stickboybangkok.com/news/thonglor-police-foreigners-right-say-drug-test/

[Trenton42]

It is the Thai way to shift blame to others, "We've been doing this for years and if the nasty news outlets weren't making a fuss, there wouldn't be a problem!"

Where I live, I see people being stopped and searched almost every day of the week. The difference is that the cops here don't stop farangs.

Although culturally insensetive it could be that the Thong Lor cops are acting within their purview. Let's hope the media pressure keeps up!

[pdogg]

[zaronxas]

 Playing dumb is a good tactic! 

 

Here's the latest from Stickboy:

 

http://www.stickboybangkok.com/news/thonglor-police-foreigners-right-say-drug-test/

 

Who says I was playing?  

[pdogg]

 

A 40-year-old man from Yemen was arrested on Friday evening at Saphan Taksin BTS Station after several female commuters alerted skytrain security to his inappropriate sexual behavior.

 

One female passenger became aware of the pervert when she felt something hard pressing against her from behind. After moving it happened a second time and she moved further towards the train doors turning to see the man was aroused. She attempted to take a photo but the fiend hid his erection with a bag.

 

Another female passenger made it known that he had rubbed himself against her too and by the time the train arrived at the next station a total of four women had been subjected to the unnamed mans harassment.

 

Other passengers surrounded the Yemeni as the women complained to the station security who alerted police. When officers arrived the man pleaded for forgiveness saying the woman could hit him for revenge before shouting he could pay them off to make the story go way.

 

It was later discovered his visa had expired in October and he was detained pending further investigation by the immigration department.

http://www.stickboybangkok.com/news/bts-pervet-arrested-following-sexual-harassment-complaints/

[pdogg]

 

Pol Lt Gen Prawut Thawornsiri, spokesman for the Royal Thai Police, has said tourists DO NOT need to carry passports at all times.

 

His comment came when he was responding to the recent tourist shakedown reports in various media outlets over the past month. He stated that if asked to show their passports, tourists can produce their documents at a later time if necessary.

 

With his clarification, Mr Thawornsiri brings an end to an expat point of argument spanning years relating to the need to carry a copy, the original or nothing at all.

 

Pol Lt Gen Prawut also told ASTV Manager that the RTP would be conducting a probe into allegations in an article published by The Sydney Morning Herald last week that police officers had stopped, searched, harassed and extorted bribes from foreigners along Sukhumvit Road.

This now brings the number of investigations into the reported stop and searches to three. Pol Maj Gen Apichai Thi-amart, chief of the Tourist Police Division, said he has also ordered an investigation into the matter as have the Ministry of Tourism and Sports following discussions with the British Ambassador to Thailand.

 

More fuel will be added to the fire in the coming days when Al Jazeera publish an article that covers the street side drug tests that have allegedly taken place during some stop and searches of foreigners around Sukhumvit / Asoke that quotes a ranking policeman from Thonglor Police District saying there was no wrong doing by officers working out of that police district and pointed the finger at his fellow officers from a neighbouring district.

http://www.stickboybangkok.com/news/rtp-spokesman-tourists-need-carry-pasports-times/

[pdogg]

 

A 24-year-old Swedish youth jumped to his death from a rented condominium room on Soi Sukhumvit  13 before dawn Saturday, Lumpini police said.

 

He was later identified later as Mr Jeans Viktor Bengtson.

 

Police said they were alerted of the incident at 2.40 am Saturday.

 

His English friend who rented the room on the 13th floor of the condominium told the police that his Swedish friend earlier has been in deep stress after complaining about his family in Sweden is coming to bring him back home.

 

He said Mr Bengtson was wandering around in the capital after his family posted on the Internet asking help from people  to locate him.

 

He said he found Mr Bengtson at Khao Sarn road and brought him to stay at the condominium, waiting for his family to pick him back home.

 

Before he jumped out from the balcony of the room, he complained about his family trying to get him back home, police said.

Police said they inspected the rented room and found no trace of fighting which could confirm a murder.

 

His body was sent to Police General Hospital for autopsy test.

http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/swedish-youth-jumps-death

[SiamSam]

The nuttiness never ceases. 

[Trenton42]

Looks like it made the big time.

 

From Time:

 

 

The Land of Smiles? How about the Land of Shakedowns?

Mastercard’s 2014Global Destination Cities Index recently ranked Bangkok as the second most visited destination in the world after London. Spend a few days this hedonistic metropolis and you’ll soon understand why, for it offers an almost unbeatable mix of culture, edgy nightlife, cheap shopping, comfortable hotels, warm weather and — who can say no? — Thai cuisine.

 

But since the May 22 coup d’état that saw the ouster of a democratically elected government and martial law declared across the country, many tourists and expatriates in Bangkok have fallen prey to a criminal practice. The victims have little recourse when reporting incidents to the police, because the perpetrators are police officers.

 

“If you go to Sukhumvit Road, you can see the police looking for tourists who are smoking or drop a cigarette butt, then they ask them for their passport and make them pay 2,000 baht [just over $60]. I see this happening all the time,” says anticorruption politician Chuwit Kamolvisit.

 

“[And] when the tourists come out of Soi Cowboy [a notorious red-light area], the police ask them if they’ve had drugs and then make them do a pee test on the side of the road. If they don’t want to do the pee test, they have to pay 20,000 baht [about $610].”

 

Being a former brothel owner, Chuwit’s word isn’t exactly gospel in Thailand. But his claims are apparently corroborated by dozens if not hundreds of first-person reports in the form of local newspaper articles, complaints to embassies, blogs and social-media postings. Some believe that the coup, by disrupting traditional avenues for corruption, has forced aberrant police officers to look for new targets.

 

On Dec. 10, British Ambassador Mark Kent tweeted, “Met Tourism Minister this morning. Covered range of issues, including reports of stop and search in Bangkok.”

 

The Twitter feed of Joe Cummings, the formerLonely Planet author who practically ​put Thailand on the backpacker map, is riddled with stories detailing police harassment and extortion. “Random police searches of foreigners in BKK is getting bad,” reads a typical entry dated Dec. 6. “Many reports of innocent tourists forced to pay bribes.”

 

Then there’s this scathing letter to the editor by tourist Reese Walker published Nov. 29 in the Bangkok Post: “Stopped, frisked and searched. When we asked what reason was for the search, police simply laughed at us. The police even asked my fiance to perform a urine test on the side of the road … [We] won’t be recommending other people to visit Thailand based on two frightening incidents of what we believe to be racial profiling.”

 

Walker’s letter gives me a real sense of déjà vubecause when I was assignment in Bangkok last month, I too became the victim of a police shakedown.

It was Christmas Eve and I was at the upstairs area of a terrace bar in the Silom Road area having a late-night drink. At around 2 a.m. I called it a night and descended to the ground floor. There I saw half a dozen police officers searching the premises and interrogating the bartender, who was handcuffed on a chair. An officer detained me straight away. “What’s going on?” I asked, identifying myself as a journalist.

 

He made a menacing fist at me, which convinced me to pipe down.

About 15 minutes later, another police officer produced a bag of white powder, shook it near my face and accused me of buying it. I emphatically denied the claim. Meanwhile, other police officers began helping themselves to drinks from the bar. When the bartender protested, they kicked him in the shins.

 

Eventually, a police officer took me outside where a Thai woman told me if I paid the equivalent of $15,200, I would be released. I told her I hadn’t done anything and would not pay a cent. I was taken back inside, where officers had now detained another four Westerners present at the bar. They then took all five of us in taxis to a nearby police station without a word of explanation.

 

Over the next four hours we were individually forced to undergo urine tests for drugs, during which a policeman standing guard in the lavatory taunted me by saying, “You cocaine.” Images from popular books and a TV series on the notorious Bangkwang Central Prison penitentiary, the so-called Bangkok Hilton, flashed through my mind.

 

Next we were taken to a media room with powerful fluorescent lights. Exhausted and disheveled, having not slept the entire night, and with our urine samples lined in front of us, we were photographed in a setting that made us look guilty as sin.

 

Some time after dawn we were presented with a typed document — in Thai — and told to sign it. At this, I drew a line and demanded to speak with the Australian embassy. Only then did our tormentors back down, casually informing us we’d all passed our drug tests and would be released — if only we signed on the dotted line. I did so, but I also scribbled, “This is not my signature” on the document before walking back onto the steamy streets of Bangkok at 8 a.m. on Christmas Day, traumatized but elated to be free.

 

During my detention, I identified myself as a journalist many times and asked for an explanation. None was given to me. After my release, I wrote to the official email address of the Thai police, but it bounced back. I copied half a dozen other government agencies, including the Australian embassy in Bangkok, which is supposed to have a police-liaison unit, but the only reply I got was from the Tourism Authority of Thailand, which said the following:

 

“The Royal Thai Government and the Royal Thai Police have no such policy to detain, harass, abduct, threaten and drug test Western tourists in Thailand. On the contrary, the Royal Thai Government recognizes the huge importance of tourism and safety for all foreign tourists is an on-going priority for the country.”

 

One would think that would be the case. Tourism receipts and indirect tourism activity account for 15% of Thailand’s GDP — making it the largest sector in the economy. So why would police be allowed to make omelets from Thailand’s golden eggs?

 

The most popular theory is that low-ranking street cops, some of whom earn as little as $1 an hour, are seeking out new sources of income, because the military-led government has begun cracking down on the street vendors who were the former targets of police shakedowns. Foreigners make convenient prey because they can be intimidated and, compared with the local population, are relatively wealthy.

 

“This explanation says the takeover has placed the police, traditionally at odds with the military, in some sort of frenzy amidst proposed restructuring that is likely to deeply disrupt the way the police have operated — both formally and informally,” says Thai political analyst Saksith Saiyasombut.

 

But Pavin Chachavalpongpun, a Thai political scholar based in Japan who has had his passport revoked for criticizing the military-led government, thinks the practice has, paradoxically, a social-order element to it. Demanding random drug tests from some tourists, or asking for cash for a dropped cigarette butt, the thinking goes, shows other tourists that Thailand’s new rulers want to shed some of the seedier aspects of the country’s image abroad.

 

“The coup makers came with a mission. And that mission is to rebuild an orderly and clean society,” Pavin says. “They believe that by appearing to be serious about cleaning up society and creating an orderly atmosphere, it will attract more tourists. They even bizarrely announced a new campaign, Tourism and Martial Law, to promote the idea that society under martial law is pleasant.”

He adds: “It will not work, because they don’t understand either the logic of tourists or indeed the economy of tourism.”

 

Bangkok may have had 16.42 million visitors last year. But that number is down nearly 2 million compared with the previous year, with the drop attributed to the declining ruble and corresponding fall in the number of Russian tourists.

 

Increased fear of flying in the wake of the Malaysia Airlines tragedies has been proffered as another reason, as has general uncertainty about the coup. If action isn’t taken to rein in the Thai police, tourist numbers may fall further still.

 

[JustSumGai]

MAY fall further?

[rxpharm]

Here's an important article from the Bangkok Post about shakedowns. Note it has excellent advice that should be followed in case it happens to you.

 

 

Sukhumvit shakedown
Random searches and on-the-spot drug tests on foreigners have left many questioning police integrity
Published: 18/01/2015 at 07:59 AM
Newspaper section: Spectrum

It was about 9pm on a weeknight in March last year, and Mat, an American business consultant, was trying to hail a taxi on Sukhumvit Soi 36 when he was stopped by six policemen on motorcycles.


Mat was completely sober, drug-free and dressed like a typical foreigner, in a T-shirt, cargo shorts and flip flops.

“You smoke ganja mai?” one of the officers asked, referring to marijuana, while pressing his index finger and thumb to mimic smoking a joint.

Without asking permission, the officers removed Mat’s backpack and started rummaging through it. Hands were thrust into his pockets, with the police pulling out his packet of cigarettes and wallet. They found nothing of interest, but the officers were apparently still not satisfied.

“Humiliation wouldn’t come until they ordered me to take the piss test. I felt very vulnerable,” said Mat, who requested anonymity because he still has business interests in Thailand.

The officer took a foil-wrapped packet from his pocket, showed Mat the expiration date, then ripped it open and held out a cup for him to urinate in.

“You take out your d**k. You pee-pee tee nee

,” said the officer.

Surrounded by the six policemen, Mat felt he had little choice but to comply with the request, so as diners ate in a nearby restaurant and foot and car traffic passed next to him on the street, he supplied a urine sample. It came back negative and the police walked away.

“I hailed the next taxi I could, offered [the driver] 300 baht to go to Thon Buri and got the f**k out of there,” Mat said.



POLICING VS TOURISM

Mat’s tale is far from an isolated one. Late last year, Bangkok expat forums lit up with reports of a dramatic surge in random stop-and-searches targeting foreigners on Sukhumvit Road.

Complaints ranged from police demanding money from foreigners not carrying proper ID to bag and body searches and humiliating urine tests in public.

With the majority of cases taking place around lower Sukhumvit, most of the victims pointed the finger at Thong Lor police station.

Pol Col Chutrakul Yodmadee, a Thong Lor police superintendent, denied there has been any notable increase in searches.

He said “there are good and bad foreigners”, and suggested the volume of reports from the Thong Lor area was simply due to the large number of tourists and expats who frequent it.

He said his men are instructed to be on the lookout for drugs at all times, and determining whether or not to stop someone would depend on that person’s behaviour and whether they appeared intoxicated.

“We need to understand that ganja is not illegal in other countries, and so some foreigners use it without thinking that it’s wrong,” he said.

Pol Col Chutrakul said he was sceptical about the high number of complaints and suspects the officers involved are either “fake policemen” or from another police station.

Many of the reports, however, include stories of foreigners being taken to Thong Lor station and extorted by officers there for tens of thousands of baht.

Since speaking to Spectrum, Pol Col Chutrakul has been transferred out of his position at Thong Lor, shifting to a new post in Ang Thong province last Wednesday. He denied the transfer had anything to do with the media criticism of his officers.

“We understand that our job and tourism cannot really go together, so we probably have to lower the intensity of the searches accordingly,” he said.



‘IT’S QUITE MENACING’

Over the past month, there are signs that the intensity of searches is indeed falling. That decline seems to have coincided with a meeting last month between senior police and James*, a foreign business owner.

James has been living in Thailand for the past 14 years and has been involved in his Sukhumvit restaurant, first as a manager and then as a partner, for the past eight.

In his first decade here, he was never stopped by police. Then, about four years ago, he was on a motorbike riding down a small soi with his friend. When police pulled over the pair, who were both without helmets, James presented his licence, but the policeman wasn’t interested. Instead he and his friend were ordered to open their bags, which contained expensive camera equipment. “They were clearly looking for drugs,” James said.

When the officers didn’t find anything, the pair were released without a fine. At the time, James said he thought little of it, marking it down as “an aberration, a freak occurrence”.

In the past year or so, however, that conclusion has changed — James has been stopped by police more than 10 times, almost exclusively in areas under the command of Thong Lor police.

“It was clearly a question of looking for white guys,” he said of the random street searches.

“It’s always the same. It’s quite menacing. It’s quite aggressive. There is no pretence about law and order; it’s a shakedown.”



GROWING VOCAL

Frustrated by the number of times he was being searched, James joined the private “Report Sukhumvit Police unsanctioned searches and harassment” Facebook group late last year. He watched as the number of members rose from 30 to more than 800 in a matter of days.

“It showed a lot of people were concerned,” he said. “It had got to the point where it just wasn’t fun going out any more.

“It definitely felt like an increase, and then this [Facebook] group appeared and it seemed like there was a consensus.”

His motivation for going to the page was echoed by many other members. “I just wanted to find out what our rights are in that situation, as it was beginning to feel a bit like Nazi Germany,” he said.

Random searches are hardly a new phenomenon on the streets of Bangkok, with debate over the rights of expats during police stops raging on web forums for years. Part of the problem has always been proving that there was a concerted campaign targeting foreigners.

But James is in no doubt about the recent rise, or who the searches were aimed at.

“Of course, all of these stories are anecdotal, but there are just so many of them that I find it hard to believe that there’s any great conspiracy,” he said, noting that Japanese and Chinese tourists were also a common target for police.

James became a particularly vocal member of the Facebook group, to the point where he was approached by several local news outlets wanting to conduct interviews with him.

Hours after speaking with TNN24, he received a call from one of the producers, asking if he was prepared to meet with senior police to discuss his grievances. At first, James declined, apprehensive over what the meeting might entail. But after receiving encouragement from close friends, he agreed.

COMING TO TERMS

On Dec 17, James met Pol Lt Gen Prawut Thavornsiri, assistant commissioner general of the Royal Thai Police, and Pol Col Apichat Suriboonya, director of the Royal Thai Police’s Foreign Affairs Division and head of Interpol’s Liaison Office for Asia and South Pacific in Bangkok.

He prepared anecdotes and a list of locations where the searches were occurring — almost exclusively around Thong Lor.

He told them about how one of his friends was approached on the street and forced to submit to a urine test. Police said he returned a positive test, and demanded 80,000 baht to avoid a court date. But when the friend asked to see the results, that figure came down to 2,000 baht. The friend, James said, was too scared to argue further, and paid the money.

James said he was surprised by how interested Pol Lt Gen Prawut and Pol Col Apichat were to hear about the problems being faced by foreign nationals.

“They were sincere, respectful, and seemed to genuinely want to do something about it … I thought [the meeting] was productive,” James said.

Pol Col Apichat said after the meeting that an internal investigation would be launched.
That night, James received a phone call saying a group of police from the Thong Lor station had paid a surprise visit to his restaurant. When he arrived, he found Pol Col Chutrakul, along with several other senior officers, waiting for him.

The mood of the meeting was genial, but James said the Thong Lor chief appeared to be looking for scapegoats, apparently under pressure from above. James was unable to supply the names of the officers involved, but received assurances that the matter would be investigated.

LAYING DOWN THE LAW

About a week later, on the weekend before New Year celebrations, Thong Lor police issued a leaflet explaining the rights of foreigners during random police searches. Its distribution was limited, but copies were posted in public areas, schools and intersections near Asoke.

James said one of his friends made a visit to Thong Lor police station to ask for a copy, but officers refused and instead attempted to extort money from him for being “drunk”.

Winyat Chatmontree, secretary of Free Thai Legal Aid, said there are only two circumstances in which police are permitted to conduct searches in public places — if they have a warrant, or if the officer has reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing.

Mr Winyat suggests foreigners who are approached for a search begin by asking the police if they have a warrant. “If they don’t, there needs to be a legal reason for the search,” he said.

The reasons need to be strong and must show reasonable suspicion that the suspect has committed a crime. This might include if someone calls out for police to catch a suspect, or if he or she looks to be under the influence of drugs.

If there is no valid legal basis behind the search, civilians have the right to refuse. But if there is a legal reason and the suspect does not allow authorities to conduct the search, he or she could be imprisoned for up to 10 days.

This penalty, as well as language barriers, mean many foreigners are often reticent to resist police.

But Section 7/1 of the Criminal Procedure Code does allow a suspect to meet and talk with a lawyer, and to let a lawyer or trusted person participate in the investigation. It also allows the alleged offender to be visited or get in touch with relatives. “Therefore, it is the person’s right to ask a trusted friend or person to be present during the search, which should be done at the police station,” Mr Winyat said.

The lawyer did warn, however, that in practice refusing to be searched will ultimately lead police to be suspicious and may cause further difficulties despite the rights granted by the law.

He suggested a good strategy would be to ask for the names of the police officers, as well as which police station they are from, so a complaint can be lodged.

Urine tests fall under the same argument, except that they need to be administered by investigative officers and not normal policemen. They must also be carried out at a police station, and not in any public place.

In cases where a person tests positive for drug use, but it can be proven that the drug was consumed in a jurisdiction where that consumption is legal, such as Amsterdam, the act is not considered a criminal offence, Mr Winyat said.

TRADING THEORIES

There are numerous theories about the reasons behind the increase in searches. The most popular is that it started around the time of the coup and the civil unrest which preceded it as police found themselves sidelined by the military.

While James said he noticed the spike well before that time, Andrew*, a Thailand resident of 14 years, said since the May 22 coup he has been stopped by police about five times and searched twice. Each time he was either walking to or from the Thong Lor and Ekamai skytrain stations.

In each instance the officers asked him where he was going and what he was doing. The only times he was not searched was when he was carrying his passport.

Once was on his sub-soi and he was released, but several people from his building had to undergo urine tests for drugs on the street during daylight hours.

“That day I was dressed nicely because I was going on a date, and I think that’s why they let me go,” Andrew said.

The other times he was stopped he was either wearing shorts or jeans and a T-shirt. He now wears a dress shirt and trousers simply to reduce his chances of getting stopped.

“It’s ridiculous that I have to change my wardrobe just to avoid police harassment,” Andrew said.

He has also changed his transportation choices, choosing the skybridge from the BTS to avoid areas where he has been stopped before, and taking the skytrain instead of taxis.

“Some friends, including the ones who were drug tested, have relocated,” he said. “If I didn’t recently get a job, I would have left too. I don’t want to live somewhere where I’m treated like a criminal.”

POSITIVE CHANGE

As he sat down to speak with Spectrum, James pulled out a laminated card from his wallet. On the front was a colour photocopy of his passport photo page, on the back a copy of his visa stamp.

He said Pol Lt Gen Prawut had assured him this was enough to satisfy any officer who was asking to see his ID.

In the month since his meeting with police, James said he has been trying his hardest to get searched on the street, dressing as a tourist with map in hand and walking laps of Sukhumvit. His efforts have proved futile, with James saying there has been a “huge, huge decrease” in police stops over the past few weeks.

He said foreigners were always likely to be easy targets for an underpaid police force looking to raise some extra cash. Most foreigners lack well-placed connections, meaning repercussions are unlikely for acts of intimidation and extortion.

Language barriers and a lack of legal knowledge also discourages many foreigners from pushing back if they are stopped.

In that sense, James said, foreigners have “made a rod for our own backs”.

But he said he has been “impressed” by police efforts to engage with the expat community and is hopeful that the change seen over the past month will be enduring.

“I’ve just been a conduit for everybody else’s grievances to get into a newspaper or magazine,” he said. “I’m not badmouthing Thailand. I’m badmouthing corruption and racial profiling.”

James is under no illusions about the problems that exist within the police force, particularly the low pay grades of junior officers. But he said he is convinced, or at least hopeful, that a corner has been turned.

"And if nothing changes, we will just be back to where we were." n

Police advice for foreigners
1. When a foreigner is stopped for a search:

• They may take photos of police before a search is conducted.

• Searches must be conducted in well-lit and public area.

• Foreigners should not pay any money to police officers who are conducting a search, even if they are asked to do so.

• Vehicles or taxis can only be stopped and searched at a designated checkpoint, under the control of officers.

2. The collection of urine samples for drug testing can only be conducted at a police station.

3. Foreigners may carry a copy of the photo page and entry-stamped visa page of their passports, in lieu of carrying the original document. n

Related search: police, sukhumvit, foreigners

About the author
Writer: Nanchanok Wongsamuth and Dane Halpin

 

Note that this seems to be happening most often in a particular area (Sukhumvit/Asoke) overseen by the Thonglor Police station, with few reports from other parts of Bangkok or Thailand. Hopefully officials are making moves to stop this from continuing.

[bumblebee]

The police used to stop tourists in the quieter sois around Khao San road and no doubt it is continuing today.  They ask to see what you have in your bag if you are carrying one but I have not heard of it going any further.  I have been stopped myself a couple of times in that area over the years, always in secluded places with little traffic.

[cobber32]

Bangkok horse racing (maybe this should be in Locker Room) - yesterday (Sunday) in the first race, the Maiden handicap at the Royal Turf Club meeting a horse named  "Lady Boy" was among the starters.

 

She is a young filly by Coal Play, ran a respectable race too, finishing second.  It was her first race start after trialling okay last year.  I'll keep an eye out for her at her next run.