POLICE HARASSMENT THE LAST STRAW

I’m an American and I have been to Thailand about six times over the past 15 years. I’m currently in Pattaya. Due to the police, this may be my last trip to Thailand.

The police here are utterly corrupt and heavy-handed. I ride a motorbike and I have been stopped at least once every day to see if I have a proper licence.

One day I was stopped three times. I have no problem with being stopped but I do have a problem with being detained after I have shown my valid licence. Half of the time, I have been detained while police try to figure out if they can charge me with something. Fortunately, I have not been ticketed for anything.

The other night I was driving back to my hotel around midnight and I was stopped for a DUI check. Again, I don’t have a problem being stopped. It’s the other things that I have a problem with. I was required to take a breath test even though I was obviously not drunk. I had consumed three drinks over the prior five hours and I weigh 275 pounds. It was pure harassment. However, according to their test, I blew .02 or about half the limit.

When I told the police officer that their constant harassment was making me not want to return, he said good and that I should not come to Pattaya. Maybe I’m wrong but I’m guessing that the hotel owners, restaurant owners and other business people would prefer that tourists come to Thailand.

I hope these business people realise what the police are doing to their businesses. Dean Peterson