The Cigarette Police by OpaqueKnight
Posted by OpaqueKnight | Blog, Reader Submissions | Posted on September 14th, 2010
If you’re a smoker, you may need to be careful about where you toss your fag butts in Bangkok. The Bangkok Post weekend magazine, called Spectrum, published an investigative article recently about a group of uniformed officers called the “Thetsakij”, and dubbed them the cigarette police. (www.bangkokpost.com/news/investigation/193476/bangkok-cigarette-police)
Basically these guys are stationed around Bangkok and their job is to fine people for littering. The maximum fine is 2,000 baht. Probably most people would agree that stopping littering is an admirable goal, but the article indicates that the Thtsakij may not be doing the job properly. The original article has this to say:
Commonly known as the “cigarette police”, the BMA’s inspectors, known in Thai as thetsakij, appear to ignore most of the city’s litterbugs – a look down any of Bangkok’s main roads will reveal piles of garbage – and only catch foreign tourists who drop cigarette butts…. In fact, the author of this story had a brush with the thetsakij outside Banjasiri Park – one of the many downtown areas they operate in – which could only be described as an act of intimidation and harassment…. What the Spectrum team witnessed during their investigation appeared to be more of a money-making enterprise than law enforcement. It should also be pointed out that the Spectrum team didn’t see a single Thai person being apprehended for littering, only foreigners.
While the level of investigative journalism didn’t quite match Woodward & Bernstein, the Washington Post reporters who wrote a series of articles about Watergate, leading to the downfall of President Dick Nixon, the Spectrum reporters found that the Thetsakij seem to target foreign tourists in Sukhumvit, Siam and Silom areas, giving them tickets for throwing cigarette butts on the ground, while ignoring other forms of litter, and frequent littering by Thai people. The cigarette police were accused of being unfair and of not issuing receipts for fines paid, with the clear implication that they were lining their pockets and creating one more problem for the ailing tourist industry. Now we have a pronouncement from Manit Techa-apichoke, the Deputy Director of the City Law Enforcement Department, who is warning foreigners who feel that they have been unfairly targeted to simply refuse to pay the fines. (www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/194650/tourists-warned-about-cigarette-police)
Now, this is good thinking and should be commended. You don’t like the way you’re being treated by the guy in uniform here in Bangkok? Just ignore him. Refuse to pay. We’d do it. We wonder how many foreign tourists would follow that advice, though. Our guess is that not many people would stand up to a local officer in uniform. They aren’t police officers, merely “inspectors” employed by the city, but in their official green uniforms they look a hell of a lot like police. Probably not many foreign tourists would know the difference. According to the Bangkok Post, Deputy Director Manit said that
foreigners who feel they have been unfairly targeted should…alert the nearest district office or police officer, so action can be taken against the inspectors….
The article went on to say that foreigners had reported that
Inspectors demanded that they pay the fines on the spot, telling them that if they wanted to take the matter to a nearby district office or police station, they would end up paying much more.
The article also quotes the Deputy Director as saying that any city inspectors found guilty of extortion would be sacked immediately, and he also encouraged “the public and tourists” to call the City Hall Hotline at 1555 to report any problems.
So the message seems to be that you should beware of the cigarette police lurking in a small booth in front of Benjasiri Park, but don’t be afraid of them.
Of course, the best way to avoid any problems is simply not to litter.
26 Responses to “The Cigarette Police by OpaqueKnight”
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Translator
I will add that a Thai friend who’s in the know, also said that these are not the Police and can be ignored, but yes, you would have to have balls of steel to do so. You can also just give them 200 baht or so since you did litter and they would gladly take it I’m sure. One other point, I once walked by the soi 4 Suk cig police and saw one of them smoking. I was curious to see what the guy did with his butt once he was finished. Sure enough, he tossed it right to the curb. Was thinking citizens arrest or youTube via my cameraphone video, but I decided to let him slide.
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View all comments by pmmp
I learned to flick off the glowing end then crush whats left between my fingers and place it in my back pocket. This habit is so ingrained now that I do it here in the UK. So the ‘litterati’ are now resonsible for slightly cleaner streets in the UK too
View all comments by doctorbond
This post perfecty summed up by its final sentance.
View all comments by Maleo
Try Saying.
Eh Heeaah
Yag me pan ha gub goo bo?
Tamai go hok mun moo?
Bai loei
Should get you off the hook with a salute.
View all comments by Pizzaman
I admit they got me once. Like Pmmp said there not the police and you can ignore them. But they are instructed to call the police if you ditch them. I had only been in Thailand 30 minutes once, just walked out of a hotel and they were there, 4 or them. The youngest of whom was holding my cig but, I couldnt even be sure it was the same one I was smoking. I held out for a few minutes, but gave in cause I so wanted to get back on to my route… I gave them 2000, and mumbled Comoy “thief” which they noticed while they simoultanesly got the money out of sight quick as possible. I went back to my walk, very annoyed while trying to be stoked that im back in Bangkok.
View all comments by ROLLN
@ pmmp: Something like this one ?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rB4-hsknqPI&feature=related
View all comments by John Brown
Yeah, these pirates got me between soi 10 and Soi 12 just outside the 7 one Sunday morning after a fairly typical glitzy night out.
As I emerged from the 7 with electrolite beverages inhand I was confronted with ‘you, you, you’ which I tried to ignore but his persistence and my fragile state resulted in me turning to face the music. He pointed at the butt, then to the bin, which was hidden behind the roadside shrubbery, then to me. Bollocks, bang to rights!
He asked me where I was from, which hotel I was staying at etc etc, I just told him we would sort this out. This was all in English. His opening gambit of 2,000 baht resulted in me changing my tone and explaining now in Thai that we would settle for 200 baht. Naturally his face dropped when I broke out the local.
The cash transfer was at the little green hut they have, with the Sargent laughing as my captor explained I wasn’t a tourist. 200 baht handed over and then I was asked to sign the book with all my details. WTF! I told them this wasn’t necessary and that I would be on my way.
To this day I wonder how the whole event would have gone down if I hadn’t been wearing sunglasses! Bottom line, don’t give these roadside brigands an inch.
View all comments by Simon Templar
It’s an entrapment scam aimed at foreigners by city workers, exploiting their position for personal gains.
Of course if the anti littering campaign included bins that would cut into the profits.
Lets be honest. They could not care less about foreigners or the tourism industry.
Will it be stopped? Not a chance.
Now that their plot has been exposed there will be more hands in the till demanding a piece.
How much could they be earning?
Let’s say a dozen officers in the Sukhumvit area, each tagging 3 tourists per hour.
6,000bt per hour each. x 12= 72,000bt / hour.
One 8 hour day totals 576,000bt in the Sukhumvit zone.
I see them doing it at Siam Center, Silom Rd, Grand Palace, KowSan.
Perhaps 10 target rich zones for this activity.
5,760,000 bt per day for 120 officers.
One months take could be 172,800,000 bt.
If each Officer even tags one tourist per hour it would be 57,600,000bt per month extorted from visitors.
I predict an increase of tourist scams.
View all comments by Jiz
must we be reminded this is not the West? These are the things we must endure for the many advantages and benefits of not being in the West??? right…
View all comments by nurseRon
We still have Lolita’s, Natari, All the Gogos and more smokin hot office girls and mall babes with out Western attitude! Not a bad compromise, especially if your a non smoker?
View all comments by nurseRon
NurseRon,
No that’s wrong. This is not double entry accounting. The good and the bad are independent variables.
If the police extract 2000 baht from me in fines, I don’t get more pussy. There is no connection.
I suspect that you are trying to say that life is good, why complain. But I don’t think the writer here or the original is complaining. It is pointing out an injustice, in part so it can be solved and what is good can be made better.
I live in Thailand, work here, pay taxes, and have the right to make comments on things that surround me. It doesn’t mean i am unhappy, a bad guest, or should go home.
Thai official corruption (of which the police are a small part) does make life worse for a lot of people, mostly Thais. Preventing corruption increased happiness.
Saying “This is Asia” is a naive and ignorant comment. Many Thais and other Asians are murdered for trying to prevent corruption. You would look pretty stupid telling them they should have just deal with it: “This is Asia”.
And do you even live in Thailand anyway?
View all comments by hh
Nurse Ron
That is exactly correct.
Them that knows knows
Them that don’t – fuck ‘em.
View all comments by Pizzaman
@hh…
your missing the point, or atleast the one I find to be so obvious?
No correlation was attempted to define any variable? WTF dude?
My point and the prime motivation of many expats and regular tourists is simply Thailand is not the west, and what is an injustice by our (Westerners) standards of view are just that; they are our egocentric imposed values and standards that don’t necessarily apply in Asia? The correlation being drawn upon is if this were the West, perhaps we would still be enduring corruption at the cig-police level, or not, but we surely would be lacking all the wonderful things that are exclusive to Asia. I’m certain of this being a Southern California Native and current resident… I hope this helps you cope a bit better when dealing with these terrible injustices? BTW ask one of the Mango owners about owning and running a business in BKK, 2000 baht is nothing compared to the bullshit fees and bribes they must put up with, but as they will also say, “this is Thailand”…Take care na!
View all comments by nurseRon
HH
One reason I’m in Thailand is that I don’t have to put up with some pompous prig, asking why anyone is living here. IMO if it wasn’t for the women of Thailand I find hard to think of any another reason. It is certainly not to work, pay taxes or worry about the social injustice.
View all comments by THE MAN
I guess I just wasn’t looking at it from a sex tourist perspective.
View all comments by hh
Calm down gents.
Recently I have questioned many times why I live here, especially now I’m out of the mongering scene. Except for a first Tulip experience a few days ago.
I can’t stand all the corruption and lack of freedoms in Thailand even if they don’t effect me at all. And the manners and selfishness of many Thai’s is infuriating.
The problem though is that I come from England and the last time I lived there I remember it being pretty shit, hence I couldn’t wait to get my arse out here.
I think that after a long spell here I’ve finally come to the conclusion that Thailand is a place for visiting but not for living. Just an opinion.
View all comments by Trojan
On a more positive note I’ll share my experience at Tulip.
Having been out of action for some time I pussied out of going downstairs to choose my victim and tried choosing from the album. Cherry looked good in the picture but when they called her upstairs it turned out shes being making hefty investments in the many new bakery chains that are popping up everywhere in the capital. So I manned up slightly and turned her back and tried again by choosing Ben.
Much better apart from a slight moostash but as facial hair seems to be quite fashionable at the moment I let it slide and we made our way upstairs.
24 years old with no kids so the body is very fit although the tits are non-existant which for me is no problem.
Now after reading many reviews I expected to get blown in the shower but didn’t and had to wait until we got to the bed where a body tongue licking was administered followed by the BJ and a short spell of rodeo. ABout 4 seconds I think.
Then a decent massage followed by the same kind of deal but this time reverse rodeo that lasted much longer, almost double digit seconds.
One thing I forgot was the A Hole did get polished both times although the slurping was a bit much I thought, never the less I didn’t complain.
Without going into detail they blatantly robbed me of half hour for which I didn’t make a big deal but also didn’t tip either.
A nice experience although after many reviews I probably had my hopes set too high. I didn’t come out beaming with wobbly legs like I’d anticipated but that was probably my fault though for not being man enough to go and pick the right girl. To clarify there was absolutely nothing wrong with Ben (unfortunate name aside), she just wasn’t my spec so I wasn’t chomping at the bit to poke her brains out.
2100 for 1 1/2 hours although I actually only got an hour.
View all comments by Trojan
@THE MAN: Word.
View all comments by Rick Masters
I came across one of these cunts outside Paragon… (i had already read the Bangkok Post article)…. and pretended to lob a cig butt away. When he approached/confronted me i still had the butt in my hand. “Feigned” innocence and told him he was “kon ban yaaa awnn” or a retarted fuck which is the opposite way i would generally treat any thai person but it was a special occasion. Their sneaky bastards alright…. there is lots of shit that doesnt endear me to Thailand but
View all comments by barfine warrior
Simple rule of thumb for me
If they have a uniform and a gun they get what they want
If they have a uniform an nothing more than a whistle they get a smile
View all comments by 8 Bakk
@ 8 Bakk; Good rule dude!
cheers!!!
View all comments by nurseRon
Is it just me and my internet connection, or has nottheNation gone the way of so many other Thailand blogs? I’m not seeing any content on the website:
http://notthenation.com/
View all comments by Raider
Looks like they are having some problems. Probably temporary.
View all comments by pmmp
“you, you, you — do you smoking?”
‘no’ (keeps walking)
Though they got me once, thanks to my idiot smoking nephew.
“do you smoking?”
‘yes’
“you throw away cigarette”
‘yes, there’s no trash bin, and in Europe we always throw on the street”
(groan – 2,000 baht later, I don’t travel with family any more)
View all comments by RealDaffyDuck
Brother of DW flicked his ciggy butt on the floor after an hour of setting foot in this lovely place.
Sure enough, he frog marched my Bro to the the kiosk and demanded 2000.
I handed them 500 each and told them I hoped their next shit was a hedgehog… with a smile on my face… they shook our hands and told us that there are ‘many lady Thailand’.
basts.
View all comments by Daywalker
@DW et al: good thing they didn’t require the dreaded ash tray!lol….?
cheers brother!
View all comments by nurseRon