PHUKET: The Commander of Thailand's Tourist Police, Major General Roy Inkapairoj, has said he wants tourists to register their names and passport numbers ''so that we will know where they are.''
He told the Bangkok Post in an interview today that he wanted to use new technology to catch criminals: ''We urge tourists to take pictures of the bus or van they board, including pictures of the driver and bus boy and send them to our division if something bad happens to them.''
Major Roy backed the use of Tourist Police volunteers: ''We have volunteers in many popular tourist cities such as Pattaya, Phuket and Chiang Mai.
''They are residents and some of them are even ex-policemen or retired soldiers. They can help not only by communicating with foreigners who speak the same language, like Hungarian, for example.
''Apart from language, they also also help patrol with tourist police.''
He also said that despite the public perception that crimes against tourists were high, the statistics showed otherwise.
''We have a key performance index which rates the number of court cases per year,'' he said. "The maximum rate should be 20 cases per 100,000 visitors, but the number of cases we have is a far cry from that ratio.
''Our statistics show [during the past five years] that the number of cases has reduced from 2.84 in 2008 to 1.24 in 2012.
''However, the record does not include issues that can be settled by both parties before going to the court process.''
The Tourist Police chief spoke out as an honest French tourist, arrested, fined and expelled from Phuket as though she and her husband were criminals, praised the actions of Tourist Police and promised to provide more information.
The woman, her husband and their infant daughter were arrested after pointing out to Phuket airport Immigration officials that they were in a group of 10 arriving passengers who inadvertently missed the Immigration counter and entered Phuket without visas or arrival cards earlier this month.
Phuketwan would like to hear from the other passengers involved.
He told the Bangkok Post in an interview today that he wanted to use new technology to catch criminals: ''We urge tourists to take pictures of the bus or van they board, including pictures of the driver and bus boy and send them to our division if something bad happens to them.''
Major Roy backed the use of Tourist Police volunteers: ''We have volunteers in many popular tourist cities such as Pattaya, Phuket and Chiang Mai.
''They are residents and some of them are even ex-policemen or retired soldiers. They can help not only by communicating with foreigners who speak the same language, like Hungarian, for example.
''Apart from language, they also also help patrol with tourist police.''
He also said that despite the public perception that crimes against tourists were high, the statistics showed otherwise.
''We have a key performance index which rates the number of court cases per year,'' he said. "The maximum rate should be 20 cases per 100,000 visitors, but the number of cases we have is a far cry from that ratio.
''Our statistics show [during the past five years] that the number of cases has reduced from 2.84 in 2008 to 1.24 in 2012.
''However, the record does not include issues that can be settled by both parties before going to the court process.''
The Tourist Police chief spoke out as an honest French tourist, arrested, fined and expelled from Phuket as though she and her husband were criminals, praised the actions of Tourist Police and promised to provide more information.
The woman, her husband and their infant daughter were arrested after pointing out to Phuket airport Immigration officials that they were in a group of 10 arriving passengers who inadvertently missed the Immigration counter and entered Phuket without visas or arrival cards earlier this month.
Phuketwan would like to hear from the other passengers involved.
I have taken pics, given license plate numbers & yet the coward that tried to knock me & my pregnant wife off our scooter is in the the same stop each & every day!
Posted by eezergood on May 23, 2013 09:39
Editor Comment:
Perhaps you should take civil action if you know the person's name.