Phuketwan News Analysis
PHUKET: Needless violence and its damaging effect on Phuket tourism will be raised when representatives from Patong's nightlife venues meet with police today.
The riot at Thalang Police Station and the brutal beating of Aussie tourists at a Soi Bangla nightclub are two examples of over-the-top reactions in the past few days.
In both cases, the issues should have been resolved without a kick belng delivered or a petrol bomb being thrown.
For years, the island's residents have known that Phuket does not have enough police to cope and that as a result, in some cases, officers cut corners or even take bribes.
What probably won't be said at today's meeting of nightlife venue representatives is that police in Patong are not seen often enough in Soi Bangla and other nightlife centres.
Patrols are more often left to police volunteers.
The result is that too many of the security bouncers working for nightlife operators in Patong believe that they can take the law into their own hands.
That was the underlying message of the deeply disturbing video that revealed just what happens when police are too hard to find.
The question of whether illegal drinks vouchers were a contributing factor in the latest horrific beatings also must be investigated. If people think they are being cheated, they will cut up rough.
The officers of Patong's Kathu Police Station must today be given the clear message that they need to make Phuket's favorite nightclub destination so clean that it squeaks.
What's the connection between the Patong nightclub beating and the Thalang police station riot?
A lack of physical police presence and action. It's well known that the young men who attacked the police station have been buying and selling drugs around the district.
Police, short in numbers on the holiday island, have mostly been forced to look the other way. The result: a social problem that police and parents have ignored.
The message in both the Thalang and Patong cases is plain: unless police have a resolute presence across the island, prevention of needless violence becomes a problem.
Catching the perpetrators is much easier these days thanks to security cameras and honest citizens with mobile telephones and courage.
But only prevention will stop crimes being committed, and that means a more obvious police presence.
By the time the security cameras or the mobile telephones have captured the violence, it's too late. The damage has been done.
We urge police to pledge a greater presence around Patong at night and proprietors to promise to uphold the law in future, with no exceptions.
VIDEO The Battle for Phuket's Thalang Police Station
https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=1&v=P6ZURGrYyqY
VIDEO Guards Evict Aussie Tourists
WARNING: This video contains brutal violence
http://goo.gl/lXjb8u
Quite strange that the normal police doesn't prominent show themselves on Bangla Rd, but mostly leave it to the foreign police volunteers, who actually have no 'tools' at all ( can not arrest or fine people).
Or is it not strange that the normal thai police don't enforce laws on Bangla Rd?
Posted by Kurt on October 14, 2015 16:41