Zaad Posted February 21, 2006 Report Share Posted February 21, 2006 Guys, As I was on my way to work earlier today a cop car passed me and stopped about 50m ahead of me. As I was approaching them they got out and asked me a few questions. Conversation: cop: can you come with me? me: where do you want me to go? cop: .. cop: can you stand here please, in the shadow, it's too hot. me: ok, sure. cop: where are you going? me: to the subway, I'm going to work. cop: where are you from? me: I'm from Holland. cop: what language do they speak in Holland? me: Dutch. cop: can I see your passport? me: sure. cop: how long do you stay in Thailand. me: about six years. cop: do you have children? me: yes, a daughter, she's 2 months. cop: oh, your visa experies in February. me: yes, I renewed it last week, check the notification. cop: you're married? me: yes. cop: what's in your bag? me: just my stuff (yeah not the clearest of all answers :: ) cop: can I see inside? me: do you want to open it? cop: can you open it for me? me: ok, here.. map, umbrella, sunglasses, phone, wallet, ... cop: what's your number? me: why do you want my number? cop: Maybe my sister would like to learn English from you. me: your English is pretty good, why don't you teach her yourself? cop: yes, I studied masters in England. me: well ok, here you go. (didn't want any shit so decided to give it, bit weird, but what the hell, don't want to piss them off) cop: Ok, you can go now. me: can I have my passport back please? cop: ah yes. me: have a nice day. Just to all of you guys that it may be wise to carry your passport around if you don't wish to spend a hot afternoon at the station answering questions like these. Been living here for 6 years and never had to show anything, the first time this morning. Odd that the guy asked for my number, does he really want me to teach his sister or is he going to double check me somehow?? I also thought by myself that you're either a lying ass or the only BKK cop with a masters from England perhaps I'm wrong and the cops are more educated than I thought. He was quite friendly btw and just doing his job I guess, no comments on that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cavanami Posted February 21, 2006 Report Share Posted February 21, 2006 Sounds like a new ploy to get "tea money"! :: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted February 21, 2006 Report Share Posted February 21, 2006 Nah, you're too suspicious. Lots of Thais who have an MA from the UK want to hire a Dutchman to teach their sister English. ??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cavanami Posted February 22, 2006 Report Share Posted February 22, 2006 Ohhh...shame on me :: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaiLuk Posted February 22, 2006 Report Share Posted February 22, 2006 About three years ago i met a BKK police captain in a social situation. He asked for my number although no reason for it as we were not going to become drinking buddies. Bear in mind i am half paranoid and here is what i think. Cops can take a ph number and then determine every phone call to and from that number. So a clever cop gets your name, info and number. When at the station he enters it into their software. Then if they are catologuing all phone calls made by and to a target of an investigation and your number happens to show up, they will have your name and info (instead of just a phone number) and hence will know something about who the target is talking to that otherwise they would not have known. Even if you never called the target of the investigation, you may have called someone else who had called the target and their software plugs that in to the final product. This may sound like a stretch to some. But as an example: the US treasury uses software to develop a worldwide neural net to track money laundering . It puts everything together and makes sense of what otherwise would seem like a hundred million unrelated transactions. I believe i'm correct. What other possible reason do they ask for our ph numbers? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chillers Posted February 22, 2006 Report Share Posted February 22, 2006 This happened to me and I've only been here a few months. I was wearing very casual gear - the gf says that this may have something to do with it. She was also convinced that they were short of Tea funds and were interested to know if I could help out. Having said that I didn't produce a passport and I didn't have to pay anything. But that's probably coz my gf was talking to them for what seemed an eternity - I think they got bored and drove off. Crack out the Armani suit next time you go out for a stroll. You'll probably be safe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zaad Posted February 22, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 22, 2006 Mailuk, I believe i'm correct. What other possible reason do they ask for our ph numbers? To teach their sisters English Nice theory about the numbers though, but nothing to hide, so nothing to worry about. Chillers, I guess you were lucky you had your girl with you to sort things out. I mean...you had no passport and if you were alone I doubt they'd let you go so easily. Otherwise, what's the damn point of these check ups, right? They never bothered to have a look at my TM card though. I thought another poster mentioned the importance of this card few days ago. Ah well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chilli13 Posted February 22, 2006 Report Share Posted February 22, 2006 Wow you're asked to show passport(ID) just like the OP - thats 2 farangs within short time & 50% failed without any consequences :: Hmm can we drop the "carry your passport at all times comments from now on then Very weird with the top educated street cop & getting phone number etc. I though they already got name & numbers from both post & pre-paid - at least according proposal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted February 22, 2006 Report Share Posted February 22, 2006 I did once meet a woman police captain at Immigration who had an MA from the States. She seemed rather unhappy that it was the best job she could get. Another time I met a woman captain there who spoke much better than average English. Turns out she had graduated from Chula in International Relations. I don't think becoming a cop is what she had set her sights on either. But a traffic cop with an MA form the UK??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vintage_Kwai Posted February 22, 2006 Report Share Posted February 22, 2006 I was stopped once at a checkpoint on the backroads about a hundred km North of Bangkok and showed them my red Thai driver's licence. The guy was still shaking his head in disbelief five minutes later that I had one. (You need P.R. and a clean driving record for a few years to qualify for the 'lifetime' licence). They did not ask to see the passport as the local driving licence can be used as alternative ID and was also probably easier for them to read... It was also the first time I've ever been asked to open the trunk in all these years, not that I have anything to hide. Must have been because of the old, slightly beat-up european car that I drive... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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