Thread: Random BKK Police Checks

Within 30 minutes of arriving in BKK last week I was asked for identification by a Bangkok "police officer". The boys in brown are always on the prowl but who can really blame them for it?

Anywhoo, while I was waiting in a taxi a copper waived us over at the corner. The cop opened the door and immediately asked my gal how she knew me. She said I'm her boyfriend, then he asked where we were coming from. So she then tells him "Phuket" and he asks where I'm from. At that point I butted in overly politely with a "krap pom" and carried on as such:

crew: I'm from America.
cop: Where's your passport?

crew: I haven't got it.
cop: Where is it?

crew: It's in my hotel room.
cop: Where?

crew: I'm terribly sorry officer. We're going to my family's house in Ubon tomorrow for the new year. If you don't believe me, I'll tell you her full name and you can check her passport.
cop: Move along.

We asked the cabbie what it was all about. He said it was about the New Year and terrorism. For anyone who's seen me, I do not fit an ignorant-BKK-cop's idea of a southern insurgent--nor anything other than Whitey in the company of a beautiful Thai woman.

I can only guess it was an attempt at a shakedown. If so, it would be my first. While I'm privy to a few incredibly egregious examples of corruption, I've never had a bad experience with any members of Thailand's Brown Frown. To be perfectly honest, I was very happy with the way it turned out.

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Within BKK, has anything like this this happened to you or a trusted friend? Beyond that it's all hearsay in my honest opinion.

My last stop went a little something like this:

fuzz: Where are you going?

Me: My embassy.

fuzz: <stutter> uhmm...why?...it's late now.

Me: Yeh, my dad is working late.

fuzz: move along.

Originally Posted by re_fuse

I got a high level copper in my wifes family in my ear about his job which is getting urine samples from susspected drug affected patrons at night clubs in BKK.

So yeah he might ask ya's to pee in a tube one day.

I had to do that in a Phuket nightclub. The best part was realising how many of the farang I was with were on drugs and then watching them shit themselves.

What happened to them all?

Did they have to attend a cop-orgy like the speeded up hos in Nana every week?

Originally Posted by jimbo

My last stop went a little something like this:

fuzz: Where are you going?

Me: My embassy.

fuzz: <stutter> uhmm...why?...it's late now.

Me: Yeh, my dad is working late.

fuzz: move along.

Ha ha ha

I love that when the police get told off by some kid(not saying you're a kid but always funnier the younger they are) who has powerful connections.

It worked against one dude though, he insulted and assaulted the wrong police guy, ended up with community service.

Originally Posted by crew

Within 30 minutes of arriving in BKK last week........

It's new year they need to make money for the annual piss ups.

Originally Posted by ben

It's new year they need to make money for the annual piss ups.

Very true, lots of stops up and around the city right now.

These 'checkpoints' are routine along the Friendship Road. I drive it weekly from Ayutthaya to Khon Kaen and back. I've got all the speed traps listed by mileage from my house to destination, along with the road blocks checking for god knows what. I act like I know very little Thai. I smile. I move along.

Since May, I've received two speeding tickets. Got one just north of Khorat at a speed trap that is set up almost daily at the same spot. They pass out tickets assembly line style. Two kilometers back, an officer nails the speeding car with a radar gun. All cars are then funneled into one lane. The guilty parties are directed to the side of the road and written up under the shade of a bus stop awning. 400 baht.

I received my first photo ticket traveling south of Saraburi. The photo of the car traveling at 126kmp was sent by post. 400 baht.

The more casual speed traps that involve a couple of officers waving over drivers along the highway are more easily avoided even if pulled over. It takes a dumb, smiling, friendly expression and on you go...

Originally Posted by Classic-Chassis

What happened to them all?

The cops must have been testing for just 1 type of drug 'cos they passed somehow

Originally Posted by panhunger

These 'checkpoints' are routine along the Friendship Road.

Yes Panny but the type of stop I was referring to is a bit different. Public stops for public behavior on public roads done in the officialdom of a check-point are one thing but in my case I was simply sitting in the back of a taxi and asked to speak with two officers on the side of the road.

The more I think about it, it was a shakedown and it's as simple as that. Thinking my mrs is a whore, he assumed he could do her up for not having an id on her and do me up for whatever he could get away with.

I see the difference. I don't like the checkpoints myself. It slows down traffic. I usually don't get the shakedown. It's normally Thais who are hauling a bunch of shit unsafely.

I hate the 'foreign man with a Thai whore' assumption. Really burns me and is one reason I try not to listen to Thais speak as the wife and pass.

Originally Posted by panhunger

I hate the 'foreign man with a Thai whore' assumption.

We don't get much of it honestly. I've always taken solace in the fact that the assumptions say more about those making them than it does my gal and I.