Thailand News

aussie dollar · #1 11-07-2005, 12:51

Tourist's arrest scary experience

My daughter and I came from Singapore for a holiday in Bangkok. On Friday, my daughter went to meet a friend on Silom Road Soi 4 at 11.15pm.

At about 11.40pm, she called me for help. She was arrested by police for being underage in a pub. She is 19 years old and she is not underage to drink in Singapore.

At 12.15am, I arrived at Bang Rak police station and found her in police custody. I explained to the police officer that she was a tourist who did not know the age limit for visiting a pub was different from Singapore and therefore she should not be held in custody.

The police officer replied that she was in Thailand and therefore she should know the Thai law.

The police officer told me to wait for the paper work to be processed to allow me, as a parent, to bail her out. And I waited until 1.30am before an officer came with forms for my daughter to sign.

She signed the form without understanding what was written on it because it was written in Thai. I was asked to sign some statements without understanding what was written in the statement because it was also written in Thai.

I was eventually allowed to take her home at 1.45pm.

This was a horrible experience for me and my daughter. The incident raises a number of questions about how the Thai police and Thai laws can live up to the Amazing Thailand image the Thai government is trying to sell to tourists:

1) If my daughter had been in Bangkok by herself, what would the police do to her if no one could bail her out, bearing in mind there are many 19-year-old tourists like her visiting Thailand?

2) Why should a tourist like my daughter be arrested at a pub where the legal age limit is not displayed or enforced at the pub entrance? It is necessary because the legal age for visiting a pub varies from country to country and the Thai police should not expect tourists to know the law when they arrive in Thailand. Should the pub owner not be held responsible for enforcing the law rather than arresting tourists for not knowing Thai law?

3) Why was the incident not handled by the tourist police? My daughter was terrified by the actions of the Thai-speaking police officers, who could not understand her or explain the charges to her. She could only communicate with other offenders already in police custody who told her the police were going to put them in jail.

4) Is it a practice of Thai police to force tourists in custody to sign Thai language documents, which they do not understand, as a condition for their release? The incident would have been less intimidating if the police had not forced us to sign Thai documents without any translation.

I believe the authorities should do something to safeguard the interests of tourists and help the police uphold the image of Amazing Thailand.

LivinLOS · #2 11-07-2005, 13:09

Sorry ignorance of the law is no fault of the law.. Agree its unusual to be arrested for such an offense but saying I didnt know the law is not going to cut you any slack anywhere.. Also not being able to speak the local language is hardly the fault of the officers in question..

Often Thailand does odd things or incorrect systems but in this case what did the poster expect..

As to what should they have done (language, signing forms, posting bail, etc) how about hiring the services of a competant lawyer ?? Having to spend a night in the Police cells (not jail) well whoop de doo.. I dont consider you have ever really been to a town until you have had night in its nick

Nicke · #3 11-07-2005, 14:22

I am sure Swedish police or whatever country would use their native language on their papers/documents, to demand a written translation is asking for too much, I think, althought I can understand it's not nice to sign such papers.

aussie dollar · #4 11-07-2005, 14:43

Its a letter sent to the "bangkok post"
I agree in oz all the paperwork would be in english ,so say a thai who cant read english would be in same boat in oz.
also laws are different in different countries and would think you would ask.
as we here know, we often get asked that question about legal drinking age.
he should have become a member before he went on trip

erik1 · #5 11-07-2005, 16:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nicke

I am sure Swedish police or whatever country would use their native language on their papers/documents, to demand a written translation is asking for too much, I think, althought I can understand it's not nice to sign such papers.

Actually the dutch police askes if the person arrested minds that his statement will be written in dutch and will get an interpeter if you do not speak a language they speak.

LivinLOS · #6 11-07-2005, 16:48

Well the dutch wrote a stetement out by me in dutch and lied to me about what was in it.. One specific item I wanted included that they assured me was there was not..

Since then I tend to write any pertinent things on the statement in English as well before signing.

Allybabba22 · #7 11-07-2005, 17:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by LivinLOS

Sorry ignorance of the law is no fault of the law.. Agree its unusual to be arrested for such an offense but saying I didnt know the law is not going to cut you any slack anywhere.. Also not being able to speak the local language is hardly the fault of the officers in question..

Often Thailand does odd things or incorrect systems but in this case what did the poster expect..

As to what should they have done (language, signing forms, posting bail, etc) how about hiring the services of a competant lawyer ?? Having to spend a night in the Police cells (not jail) well whoop de doo.. I dont consider you have ever really been to a town until you have had night in its nick

I dont think many people really do check out any laws before they enter a country.

Just to prove this point, There was a thread on here the other day about what is the legal age for a BG to be in a bar, Everyone said it was 18yrs for bars and 20yrs for Disco's/Nightclubs but thats obviously wrong if this girl was arrested and she is 19yrs old... Now if bar owners in Los dont even know the proper laws, Then how do you expect a tourist to know?

Another thing, In every country I have been to, The bars themselves have signs up with the legal age in them and they also have ID checks to make sure there is no under-age drinkers in there bars, Or else they are the ones who get into trouble not the customer.

I think what happened to this girl is extremely heavy handed and can only have a negative effect on tourism, I doubt she will be back in a hurry.

Nicke · #8 11-07-2005, 19:11

I think I have mentioned many times that the legal age for drinking in bars is 20 but 18 to work in one.

But ofcourse people cant know of all laws, but this is not an excuse in any country.

marc26 · #9 11-07-2005, 19:23

i know when i was around that age we would always know the age limit before we went. more times than not we were looking for places that were under 21, the age limit in the states

sishow · #10 11-07-2005, 23:32

It was quite funny where I grow up in England. There were, and still are, alot of American air-force bases in the area. Which are of course American territory as soon as you pass the gates. Therefore American laws are used on all the bases!

So being a young tear-away that I was. I used to go drinking in village pubs in the area on Sunday afternoons. The amount of 'kids' from the bases that used to frequent these places was stupid! The amount of times we had to drop these drunks off at the base on the way home was incredable! Though not all were the children of staff serving, some were service people under 21!

So by walking 50 feet through a gate the drinking law would drop from 21 to 18 (Ahem). I have another example about statuatory rape, but i wount go into detail as im not sure on that law in the USA.

marc26 · #11 12-07-2005, 00:23

we use to go to monteal, canada where the age was 18 and if you saidf you were 18, they basically let you in.

seafox · #12 12-07-2005, 00:25

I live in Southern California and have been down to San Diego and Tijuana a lot. 18-20 kids cross over the border on weekends all the time to get drunk in TJ as the age limit is 18 compared to 21 in US.

US customs and San Diego Police have been getting more strict with drunk kids as 1000's go across the border every weekend and get super maow. And drunk driving is on the rise as once they get over the border they still have to drive to where they live in the San Diego area.

stevem · #13 12-07-2005, 21:24

This seems to be a very common question on the board, what is the legal drinking age. It has been stated *LOTS* of times that is 20 to enter licensed premises, and bar beers are also licensed premises.

Far too many responses to these questions are dont worry about, or just forget about and enjoy yourself. This story, whilst a terrifying experience for the girl involved, highlights that IT IS POSSIBLE to be arrested for being under age and on licensed premises in Thailand. Whist this did happen in Bangkok, it can very easily happen here as well.

And as LIL stated, ignorance is no excuse.

marc26 · #14 12-07-2005, 22:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by seafox

I live in Southern California and have been down to San Diego and Tijuana a lot. 18-20 kids cross over the border on weekends all the time to get drunk in TJ as the age limit is 18 compared to 21 in US.

US customs and San Diego Police have been getting more strict with drunk kids as 1000's go across the border every weekend and get super maow. And drunk driving is on the rise as once they get over the border they still have to drive to where they live in the San Diego area.

i saw a specila on this. you shouldve seen the kids coming back to san diego at night after tijuana, they couldnt even stand up. it was so funny