PHUKET: A stop-work by Region 8 volunteers whose patrols in Patong are essential for the protection of tourists may end soon after a meeting with senior police, the volunteers' leader said today.

The 35 volunteers walked away from regular patrols last Thursday because they believe their concerns to improve safety in Soi Bangla walking street and other parts of Patong were being ignored.

In a statement to Phuketwan this afternoon, Mr Brown, who is the group's coordinator, said a meeting had been ''sorted out'' for Wednesday and he was hopeful that the volunteers would get a hearing of all their grievances.

''There are some issues that need to be resolved re the attitude of some police,'' Mr Borwn said.

''I believe these are the new police appointed to Patong not being advised who the volunteers are and how to communicate with them.''

Mr Brown made the point that the volunteers came from 12 countries and often had communication problems among themselves because of the many languages they used.

''One key point is for police to feel comfortable trying to use English because we all get things wrong from time to time,'' he said.

He hopes on Wednesday to raise the issue of better communication and several other issues that concern corruption and tourist safety.



Thank you for allowing me to comment on your article, it's hard to say we are not on strike when we are not patrolling.

The decision was made last week not to patrol Patong until we have a meeting with the new Colonel at Patong.

This was the result of another failed attempt to have a meeting with senior staff at Patong. Not the Colonel this time.

We usually have a meeting every month, however we have not been able to have a meeting for the past four months.

Since our decision not to patrol we have sorted out a meeting time for Wednesday March 11 at 10am and from then we should be able to get things moving again.

After meetings with Governor Nisit and the Phuket Commander Major General Pachara we needed to take information back to the Superintendent at Patong Police.

There are some issues that need to be resolved re the attitude of some Police. I believe these are the new police appointed to Patong not being advised who the volunteers are and how to communicate with them.

Its not easy when there are 35 volunteers from 12 countries with as much cultural confusion thrown in to make the ideal work environment.

One problem is that the new police feel embarrassed trying to communicate with volunteers so they ignore the volunteer and walk away.

We have had several complaints from Embassies and Consuls with information that has come from tourists with issues with the police, we hope to be able to discuss these on Wednesday as well.

Our volunteers talk to hundreds of tourists and expats each week and we try to coordinate their information and take it to our monthly meetings so the police can take that information to the various government departments.

As far as some of the comments on line, any member of the public is welcome to discuss what we do working as volunteers. If you think we are corrupt it is probably because that is what you would do.

When we have an issue about from a tourists or expat about how they are being treated we are the first to take the information to a Government authority to try to sort the problem out.

Wal Brown,
Coordinator, Region 8 Volunteers