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Phuket's Tourist Police headquarters: crimes not high, says the TP chief

Crimes Against Tourists 'Not High'

Thursday, May 23, 2013
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.

Comments

Comments have been disabled for this article.

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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.

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Pretty irrelevant statistics he is throwing around... and I imagine he knows it. How many tourists will take action in court and hand around to pursue through the courts? No need to answer... the stats say it all. FEW.

Now, a simple stat of interest would be how many tourists have filed a complaint with the police. Not a perfect stat, but likely much more revealing than the number of court cases.

Alas... doubt that stat will be collected or reported by the relevant authorities.

Posted by Duncan on May 23, 2013 09:44

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It is crime against tourists not to release the road death figures, less people are coming to Phuket as they know it is a cover up. Less money for Thais.

Posted by Lost In Translation on May 23, 2013 10:25

Editor Comment:

Well, I don't know about it being a crime but if the road toll figures were transparent, residents and tourists could work to reduce the deaths and injuries and make Phuket's roads safer for everyone.

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This had not occured, but after seeing a friend/colleague go through 8 yrs or so of legal wrangling - do you really think any action or goodwill come of it?

Posted by eezergood on May 23, 2013 10:28

Editor Comment:

I know nothing about it so I have no opinion.

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Considering how reluctant local police are to pursue cases where foreigners are victims of a crime and the suspect is a Thai and the time and complexity required to pursue such cases all the way to the courts, it's little wonder the number of cases that actually reach the courts is far below the reality. As many others have said, the number of cases reported is the true statistic we should look at. It would also be very interesting to see the percentage of cases reported resulting in actual police investigation, not to mention punishment of the wrongdoers. Using the statistic Khun Roy uses to draw his conclusions from is about as useful as peeking into your bedroom and concluding it's not raining.

Posted by ThaiMike on May 23, 2013 11:12

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It was somewhat rhetorical! But any of the other members are encouraged to chip in. Sorry if this hijacks a thread

Posted by eezergood on May 23, 2013 11:28

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A friend in Scotland applied last week for international travel insurance to travel to multiple destinations. Thailand was specifically excluded from the policy. I wonder why?

Posted by Logic on May 23, 2013 22:04

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The measuring stick the commander uses is about as useful as a ashtray on a motorbike,how many have to get home to meet commitments and cant wait for the very slow court system,be hundreds,why is there talk of a night court to address such matters if theres no crime to court expendiecy problem,some of the crimes are of the henious nature example
Australian Travel Agent stabbed and killed in bag snatch,this measuring stick has a design fault that lies Major do yourself and the public a big favour and get a true spirit level & stop insulting our intelligence.

Posted by slickmelb on May 24, 2013 00:59


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