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Locals protest construction
of gas storage plant
Ariyawat Nuamsawat
More than 200 residents of Banglamung have protested against the
construction of a gas storage plant on Sukhumvit Road, opposite Banglamung
District Office and Banglamung School, fearing it could be dangerous and
also saying they are wary of side-effects.
At a rally on June 11, the protestors held up signs demanding that the
government departments responsible for granting permissions relocate the
plant. They used megaphones to voice their discontent, and presented a list
of more than 500 names supporting their demands, names that included civil
servants and private sector company employees.
The LPG gas storage facility is owned by Phoemsap Thavee Gas Service Limited
and will be located on a 1-rai plot of land.
One of the protestors, Chanvit Photekaew, who lives right next to the
proposed construction site, said that Pattaya City Council had already
designated the area as a green zone and therefore the construction is
illegal. It is located near a major government facility and also a school as
well as a large community.
A petition was previously submitted to city hall, which issued a
construction suspension order on June 8 because construction works had been
carried out without approval.
Pattaya Deputy Mayor Ronakit Ekasingh, Itthipol Khunplome, chief advisor to
the mayor, and public works department officials traveled to the site and
took delivery of the protestor’s petition.
Ekasingh called in representatives of Phoemsap Thavee Gas Service Limited,
whose managing director Wanchai Saelim said that the license for the
building was duly approved and the gas storage plant was approved by the
Department of Energy.
Wanchai said the plant is very safe and will in no way affect the community,
as it distributes only NGV and LPG and is not a gas distillation plant.
Plants such as this can be constructed in urban areas under law with the
only stipulation being that they be located more than 60 meters away from
residences.
At the meeting residents and those responsible were given the opportunity to
ask questions and raise their doubts. Most of the questions concerned safety
measures. At the end of the day it was resolved that the company could
continue with its operations so long as it implemented strict safety
measures and community environment protection measures. The plant will be
inspected after construction is completed.
Singapore ship seized for smuggling fuel oil
Ariyawat Nuamsawat
Customs officers at Laem Chabang have impounded a Singapore ship and
arrested 14 crew members along with the captain for illegally bringing fuel
oil valued at more than four million baht into Thailand.
 Officers
search the MT Yunita, being held for illegally bringing fuel oil valued at
more than four million baht into Thailand.
The vessel, the MT Yunita, was seized on June 5 at Koh Loy Pier. Sangkorn
Puengpradit, deputy director general of the Taxation Fairness Management
Department, along with Somsak Potpatinya, director of Laem Chabang Port
Customs, Tanat Suwatanamaethakul, director of the Investigation and
Suppression Department, and a team of customs officers searched her and
found that the crew had been illegally transferring fuel oil to other boats
in the harbor.
Customs officers on patrol in a speedboat became suspicious when they saw
the Yunita at Koh Kangkao, pulling a raft with a gasoline pipe attached.
When the ship was searched she was found to be carrying approximately 20,000
liters of diesel fuel in her hold. The ship’s log also recorded the transfer
of 150,000 liters of fuel to the Britoil 12 ship at Koh Kangkao, which is
only five nautical miles off the Sriracha shore.
Sangkorn said that Customs had detained the captain and crew of the Yunita,
and impounded the ship. The crew had admitted their actions. No duty had
been paid on the fuel, and they had illegally offloaded the supplies to at
least one other vessel.
The value of the cargo has been placed at more than four million baht, and
under Thai law if the shippers are found guilty they must pay a fine of four
times the value of the cargo.
The ship’s captain, Ismeil Mangure, a 25-year-old Indonesian, claimed
ignorance of Thai law regarding fuel shipments. He has been in contact with
the shipping company’s lawyer.
The MT Yunita, a Singapore-registered vessel, is 287 meters long, 18.7
meters wide, weighs 380 tons, and has a fuel capacity of more than two
million liters.
Pong Sub-district pioneers foreign community watch scheme
Ariyawat Nuamsawat
A system to monitor the movements of the foreign community at Pong
Sub-district, in Banglamung, has been launched under an initiative begun by
Chonburi Governor Pracha Taerat.
 Banglamung
District Chief Pratheep Chongsubthum.
Banglamung District chief Pratheep Chongsubthum said the Pong Sub-district
Administration Organization would operate the scheme.
Pratheep said this area has several permanent foreign inhabitants and that
the purpose of this project is for official departments to improve their
communications and cooperation.
He said that a community committee would be organized that would liaise with
the local administration.
“The reason for starting this program under the Pong Sub-district
Administration Organization is because the area is not a large one,”
Pratheep explained. “Currently there are about 500 people, mainly from
Europe and America living there. In the event the project is successful, it
will be extended to another area such as the Muang Nongprue Municipality.”
Kotchakit Moonsakoo, deputy head of the Pong Sub-district Administration
Organization said they have already surveyed the number of foreign
inhabitants and have received good cooperation from them. It is expected to
take approximately one month before the committee can be formed.
The foreign community has taken this opportunity to suggest better public
utilities in the area, such as repairing damaged road surfaces around the
Mabprachan Reservoir, and improving public safety.
License renewals will be refused unless businesses install CCTV says governor
(L to R) Banglamung District
Chief Pratheep Chongsubthum, Chonburi Governor Pracha Taerat and Mayor Niran
Wattanasartsathorn.
Ariyawat Nuamsawat
The governor of Chonburi has said there will be no slowdown on tackling
crime, and has urged that business people install their own CCTV cameras
otherwise they may find permission being withheld for the issuing of their
annual licenses on the grounds of non-cooperation.
Governor Pracha Taerat said the first three months of this year had shown
satisfactory results in terms of crime suppression in Chonburi Province, the
statistics having fallen by 70 percent.
Speaking at Pattaya City Hall on June 6 at a meeting that also included
Banglamung District Chief Pratheep Chongsubthum, Mayor Niran
Wattanasartsathorn, and Pol Col Udom Chantapitak, deputy commander of the
Provincial Constabulary of Chonburi, Pracha issued policy instructions to
the police, military, and civil protection volunteers for the Banglamung,
Pattaya, Sattahip and Na Jomtien areas.
Pracha said that during this high season especially, there could be no
relaxation of crime suppression measures and those efforts must be
maintained and increased. Patrols will operate 24 hours a day and
increasingly CCTV must be used as a tool for crime prevention and the
detection of criminal activities.
He said that CCTV had been used successfully in high-profile crimes such as
the murder of the two Russian women on Jomtien Beach and the Sriracha gold
shop robbery, and that CCTV was proving its effectiveness in daily police
operations.
Governor Pracha announced that owners and operators of shops, entertainment
establishments, offices, schools, hospitals and tourism locations throughout
Chonburi Province should install CCTV cameras and deploy 24-hour security
guards. In the event of any instances of non-cooperation, operators would
not be able to obtain a renewal for their annual license.
Councilor Farooq leads a team to clean drainage pipes in Soi Khao Noi
Ariyawat Nuamsawat
Farooq Wongborisuthi, member of Pattaya City Council District 2 led a team
of officials from Pattaya Sanitation Department along with a city drainage
truck to clean out soil and sand from blocked drainage pipes on Soi Khao
Noi, which was causing regular flooding during heavy rains.
 Farooq
Wongborisuthi (right), member of Pattaya City Council District 2, is working
on solving the flooding problem.
The exercise was carried out on June 5 after complaints from residents in
the soi that the area was flooding even though the drains were being cleaned
regularly. There is a lot of residential building work being carried out in
this area, and sand has been accumulating in the pipes that carry wastewater
from peoples’ homes to Pattaya Canal in South Pattaya before it is pumped
into the Pattaya Water Treatment Plant in Soi Wat Nongyai.
The city will continue to clean the pipes on a regular basis and presently
has four drainage vehicles for the purpose.
Thammasat University brings in US expert to study Pattaya’s street children woes
Narisa Nitikarn
An American research scientist is studying the problem of Chonburi
Province’s street children to see if a fresh approach can be brought to bear
on a situation that never seems to ease.
 Dr
Loring Jones, PhD (left) and Somchai Siroratt (right) eagerly listen to
details of the Chonburi street children issue.
A meeting was organized on May 31 at Diana Garden in North Pattaya by
Somchai Siroratt of Chonburi Social Development Department and a working
committee from the Subhanimit Foundation of Thailand, with Sopin Thappajug,
managing director of the Diana Group and head of the Associate Judges at
Chonburi Juvenile and Family Court, and Supagon Noja, director of the
Redemptorist Street Children’s Home amongst those present.
Thammasat University is also undertaking research into this problem, and
research scientist Loring Jones, PhD, Professor of Social Work at the School
of Social Work, San Diego State University, and Research Scientist at the
San Diego Child and Adolescent Services Research Institute, Children’s
Hospital in San Diego, attended the meeting to collect data for further
study.
The meeting started with a presentation on the work being done by the
working committees of each project by the Subhanimit Foundation and other
organizations in attendance in order to brief Dr Jones.
Somchai said the projects focus on street children and the issue of vagabond
children throughout Chonburi, but the emphasis is on Pattaya where the
situation is most acute.
The children can be divided into two groups, namely local children and the
children of migrant parents who have moved to Chonburi. The problems stem
from broken families and children who have no one to take care of them,
consequently turning to their friends as a source of reliance and becoming
open to bad influences.
Sopin said that having worked with children for a long time it was apparent
that most of the cases are the result of family problems, such as parents
separating, children being left at home alone or the mother working as a
service girl and after giving birth to the child hands it over to someone
else to take care of.
After the presentations, the attendees visited the Redemptorist Children’s
Home and the Subhanimit Foundation of Thailand.
City Scope:
with Mayor Niran
Councilors discuss Naklua projects with public
Introducing Pattaya
Councilors in Zone 2 (from top left): Panote Kanawattanakul, Chutipon
Kamolnath, Adison Phonlookin, Farooq Wongborisuthi, Somchai Chowna and
Manoch Nongyai, .
Narisa Nitikarn
Six Pattaya City councilors from Zone 2 met the public on June 8, in one
of the regular public sessions that deal with the problems and projects
in specific areas.
The six councilors were Adison Phonlookin, who is deputy chairman of the
council, and members Farooq Wongborisuthi, Manoch Nongyai, Chutipon
Kamolnath, Panote Kanawattanakul and Somchai Chowna. Their area covers
Naklua.
A major project has been the installation of high-mast lighting along
the median on Sukhumvit Road, and there is a continuing project to
improve roads that have deteriorated by replacing their asphalt surfaces
with concrete and laying new drainage pipes.
For the immediate future, the council is encouraging local business
people to install CCTV cameras for their own security and for the
greater security of the public. There is also a project that will reduce
the problem of flooding in parts of Naklua by laying pipes from Ban
Huathung along the area behind Banglamung Hospital.
Improvements and extension works are being carried out at Pattaya School
No 2, on Soi Nongyai, where 50 million baht is being spent on erecting
two four-story buildings and installing a gym, a swimming pool, and a
soccer field and track. Work is due to be completed next year, and will
allow the school to accommodate 2,000 students.
Youth arrested in gang rape of 15-year-old girl
Boonlua Chatree & Theerarak Suthatiwong
A man has been arrested and others are being sought after a gang of six
youths raped a 15-year-old girl at the edge of Huay Khunjit Reservoir in the
early hours of June 5.
An officer on duty at the Takian Tia police box reported to Banglamung
Police Station that local residents had rescued the girl from the gang.
 Jeerasak
Kanaharn (right) was the first gang member arrested in connection with the
rape of a 15-year-old girl.
On arrival at the scene, police were met by four girls crying hysterically.
The victim was identified as 15-year-old Tuk. She was disheveled and muddy
and had assault marks on her body, especially her arms, which were badly
bruised. Tuk told officers that she was from Buriram and didn’t go to school
because her parents who had come to work in Pattaya had little income. She
said that she worked as a waitress at a restaurant in Sriracha.
Tuk said she had finished work at 1 a.m. and had invited four female friends
to get something to eat at a restaurant near where she worked. After the
meal the girls were met by five youths driving two motorcycles. She
identified one as being named Pramot, aged about 20, who she said had been
trying to gain her affections. He invited the girls to go on a bike ride and
the girls agreed to follow.
The youths then invited the girls to a friend’s house so that he could join
them. Pramot invited the girls to drink while their friend got ready. As
they were drinking two of the girls went to fill up the motorcycle with
petrol, leaving Tuk and a girl named Koy alone with the gang. As soon as the
two girls had left, the gang went into action. Pramot and two accomplices
dragged Tuk onto a motorcycle and drove off. Koy tried to help her friend,
but was pushed back by the other gang members and the other three then
followed on another motorcycle.
Tuk said that she tried to struggle free, but the gang members held her
close and covered her eyes and mouth and threatened to shoot her. They
arrived at the isolated reservoir and Pramot threatened her that if she
screamed she would be shot. The gang members pinned her down and stripped
her off while she tried to break free. She begged them, but they continued
with the attack and punched her in the stomach.
She was raped first by Pramot, then by a youth named Sak and another named
Kai. The others were about to rape her, but one of their number tried to
stop them and a fight broke out among them. Some locals drove passed and Tuk
called out for help. The gang members got dressed quickly and sped off on
their motorcycles. Locals tried to follow them in order to apprehend them
but without success, while others took the girl to the police box.
Tuk was taken to Banglamung Hospital for an examination before further
questioning.
At 3 p.m. on June 6, officers from Banglamung Police Station armed with a
warrant from Pattaya Provincial Court arrested Jeerasak Kanaharn, age 20, at
the Amata Borwin Condominium, Borwin, in Sriracha. He was charged with being
an accomplice in the rape of a girl under 15 years of age.
Jeerasak denied the accusations, and stated that he was an employee at the
Borwin Industrial Estate Company in Sriracha. On the night in question, he
went with a total of six other people to drink in Ban Pongsaket in
Banglamung, and rode a motorbike back to Sriracha after he became drunk.
On the way back, the female victim, along with four other friends, was
riding in the opposite direction. Because Pramot, their leader, knew the
female victim, he asked her to follow him on the motorbikes. Pramot was
sexually aroused, so he came up with a plan for the group to pull the girl
off the motorbike, and to threaten her with a gun.
Pramot was the first to rape the girl with assistance from the others,
before they took their turns. Then some villagers passed by and the group
fled. Jeerasak said he went back to his room, and behaved like he didn’t
know what was going on until the police arrested him. Police are now in
pursuit of the other gang members.
British man arrested
for providing fake visa service
Theerarak Sutthatiwongse
Pattaya Immigration Police have arrested a British man for providing a
service in forged Thai visas.
 Sean
Henry Tinsley during his arrest in Pattaya.
Under a warrant issued by Pattaya Provincial Court, officers entered
premises on Soi Buakao during the afternoon of May 28 and arrested
35-year-old Sean Henry Tinsley on charges of forging official documents.
Police had uncovered Tinsley’s activities when another British man, Phillip
Lee Atkins, 55, had applied for a visa extension. The Immigration officer
dealing with his case had a suspicion that the stamps showing entries and
departures from Phuket Airport were probably forged. Further examination
revealed that the seals had not been used for a long time.
Atkins said that he had not wanted to leave Thailand, so he used the service
provide by Tinsley at a cost of 25,000 baht. He had waited three weeks
before his passport was returned to him, and he didn’t know that it was a
fake visa.
Tinsley initially denied that he was guilty. However, investigators were
aware that he had provided this service in a number of other cases, at a
standard fee of 25,000 baht.
German attacked with beer bottle for not tipping bar staff
Boonlua Chatree
A German man who attempted to leave a bar without tipping the staff was hit
over the head with a beer bottle by an aggrieved bargirl.
Police were called out just after midnight on June 2 to the Sailor Beer Bar
on Pattaya Beach Road Soi 8, about 100 meters from the police station.
 Arno
(seated) files a report with Pattaya police.
They found Arno Leinen, a 44-year-old German citizen, lying unconscious on
the ground with injuries to his head and both arms. He was taken to Pattaya
Memorial Hospital for treatment.
Police questioned him after he had regained consciousness and undergone
treatment, which consisted of six stitches to his head. Leinen stated that
he was a major in the German police, and that he was in Pattaya on vacation.
He had gone to the Sailor Beer Bar, had one drink, paid his 40 baht bill,
and was leaving when a bargirl asked him for a tip. He refused, whereupon
the girl insulted him in the German language. When he remonstrated, she hit
him over the head with a beer bottle. He flung his arms up to protect
himself, but she continued to hit him.
Officers questioned the bar manager, 49-year-old Ms Nittaya Duangsomsa. She
said she had witnessed the event, but didn’t want to mention the name of the
bargirl. Police asked Leinen to file a report as evidence, and invited
Nittaya to come in for further questioning on the following Monday.
Drunken Australian man found asleep downunder pork vendor’s stand
Boonlua Chatree
A drunken Australian man who fell asleep under the stand of a pork vendor in
Wat Chaimongkol Market had to be removed by force when he declined to wake
up and allow the vendor to carry on with his work.
 Asleep
on the floor – not something to be proud of.
The radio center at Pattaya Police Station received a call at 5:00 a.m. on
June 6 from the aggrieved vendor, who said that the intoxicated man had been
angry at being disturbed and refused to move.
Officers found the man, aged about 30 years and of an unknown name, still
asleep under the stand. He was irritated when the police tried to wake him
up and refused to answer questions except by giving a middle-finger salute.
Five volunteer officers tried to move him, and he woke up sufficiently to
put one of them in a headlock.
Eventually the man was removed to the police station, where he was allowed
to resume his sleep in front of the cells, after which he was free to leave.
Two university students lucky to be alive after BWM wrecked
Boonlua Chatree
Two students were lucky to escape with their lives when their BMW spun out
of control and rolled over.
 The
two students (left) were lucky to escape with only minor injuries.
The accident happened in the early hours of June 5 in front of the Rim Suk
Apartment on the Sukhumvit Road, near the flyover at Krating Rai Km 1.
Officers from Banglamung Police Station along with Sawang Boriboon
Foundation rescue workers found a blue BMW 316 E30 upside down in the road
and badly damaged. Already out of the wreckage was the driver, 24-year-old
Apisak Samusitmanee of Sriracha, and Prachaya Naubol, 25, of Banglamung.
Both are third-year students at Sri Prathum University. They had suffered
only minor cuts from the broken windshield.
Apisak said that he and Prachaya had gone to a pub in Chonburi and had had
only a little to drink before heading back home in Ban Pong, Banglamung.
Near the flyover they had been overtaken by a 10-wheeled truck, which
indicated that it was about to turn left but instead turned right in front
of them. Apisak tried to turn into the lane, but the car hit a drainage pipe
and rolled over several times before finally coming to a standstill upside
down.
The truck driver didn’t stop to help or take any responsibility.
The two students were released from their car by 64-year-old Naret Maneewan,
a security guard at a stonemason’s yard near the scene, who saw the
accident.
Sontaya banned from politics for
5 years as Thai Rak Thai is dissolved
Ariyawat Nuamsawat
Chonburi politician Sontaya Khunplome has been banned from politics for five
years after the judges of the Constitutional Court disbanded the Thai Rak
Thai party.
 Former
MP
Sontaya Khunplome.
Sontaya, former Minister for Tourism and Sport and head of the Rak Muang
Chonburi Group confirmed the ban on May 31, when seven local party members
formally resigned their positions. They are reportedly applying to become
members of Banharn Silpa-Archa’s Chat Thai Party.
In a telephone interview with Pattaya Mail, Sontaya said he had already
prepared himself for the future, in the event the Thai Rak Thai party was
disbanded. He said he still has the right to be involved in the community,
the same as anyone else.
Sontaya said he would continue to work behind the scenes to support
politics, especially local politics.
Thai Rak Thai was dissolved by the Constitutional Court and party executives
stripped of their electoral rights for five years. This means that they
cannot present themselves at any national political election, or local
elections for the position of village chief, or Sub-district Administration
Organization or Provincial Administration Organization positions.
Samae Beach to be promoted as tourist destination
Local committee will control beach vendors
Narisa Nitikarn
City hall is promoting Samae Beach as a tourist destination on Koh Larn, and
is arranging for a controlled number of vendors to sell produce and services
to the public there.
 Deputy
Mayor Wutisak Rermkitkarn (left) presides over a meeting to decide
merchandise distribution on Koh Larn.
Deputy Mayor Wutisak Rermkitkarn presided over a committee meeting at
Pattaya City Hall on May 30 to decide on the merchandise distribution.
Sutham Petket, director of the Pattaya City Office on Koh Larn also
attended.
Developments at Samae will follow a recently issued Ministry of Interior
announcement, combining an ample area for controlled vending while
preserving the natural attractions of the beach.
All six main beaches on Koh Larn will in future have controlled merchandise
operations. The beaches, as announced by Sutham, are Sangwan, Ta Waen,
Tonglang, Tian, Nual and Samae.
The Ministry of Interior regulations concerning the distribution of
merchandise at public locations were issued in 2003, and include guidelines
for assigning local committees to issue regulations and selecting
entrepreneurs.
An area measuring 30 x 10 meters has been arranged at Samae from which 17
concession holders will provide services that include beach beds and
umbrellas. In order to preserve the natural surroundings, no more than 80
beach beds would be available unless authorized on a case-by-case basis.
Winai Wangplaycharoensuk, head of the Koh Larn Committee, examined the
applicants’ names and found that some were not island inhabitants. It has
also been noted that some Koh Larn people are operating beach bed and
umbrella services without obtaining the correct permission.
Sutham said the matter of trespassers is already being dealt with, and added
that the Interior Ministry guidelines are organized so that the local
committees are responsible for the merchandise concessions. An annual charge
of 600 baht is levied and there is a yearly payment of 1,000 baht, which
goes into a public fund for maintaining the beach. The committee collects
the money.
Thai and foreign churches help poor community
Narisa Nitikarn
A local and a foreign church handed out food and other consumable items to
members of a low-income community on June 2.
 The
group hands out sweets to the children.
Sanay Srisa-ard of Pattaya Full Gospel Church in cooperation with the First
Baptist Church of Thomasville, Georgia, United States of America led by
Howard J Floyd and seven members distributed the goods to the community near
the railway tracks in a soi behind Wat Tham Samakhee, in Banglamung. Most of
the community members work as laborers and construction workers, and 90
percent of them have migrated here from other provinces.
Sanay said that Pattaya Full Gospel Church and the First Baptist Church
collected money from members of both churches and spent 6,000 baht on
consumable items such as rice, noodles and vegetable oil for more than 40
households in the community. The items are daily necessities, but most of
the community members earn very little for their labors and the gesture
would ease their burden a little.
The community receives no support care from the city and their living
standards are unsanitary. The community also has a lot of orphans. The
church sometimes takes care of the younger children during the daytime. “The
community is one of Pattaya’s underprivileged. Some groups have nowhere to
live, but landowners have been kind enough to allow them to build shelters
to escape the elements,” said Sanay.
Howard Floyd said that the seven members of the church had been to Pattaya
every year for the past five years, traveling around and making donations to
poor communities.
Other than giving items to community members, the First Baptist Church has
also given 20,000 baht to Pattaya Full Gospel Church to carry out Christian
activities. The visit to the community was more exciting than usual as the
young and the old came out of their homes to receive the handouts. The group
also handed out sweets to the children and sang Christian songs to them and
told them that God and Jesus loves them before handing out the goods to the
adults.
Buddha relics placed
in Thepprasit Temple
In a solemn ceremony, the
Buddha relics are given a place of reverence in Thepprasit Temple.
The Buddha relics are brought
into Thepprasit Temple.
Ban Taotan Community organized
a parade of Buddha relics on May 31.
Patcharapol Panrak
Ban Taotan Community organized a parade of Buddha relics on May 31, with
Deputy Abbot Thepgosol of Pak Nam Bhasicharoen Temple presenting the relics
to Abbot Wisalthamakorn of Thepprasit Temple in Sattahip for placement in
the temple’s sermon hall.
The parade was part of the weeklong celebrations surrounding Visakha Bucha
Day.
Surapong Korsirivalanon, warden of Thepprasit Temple and Mrs Kanta
Wongcholakorn, owner of Sor Sunee Hardware at Ban Taotan Market led the
parade around the community, and Sattahip district chief Prakit
Rojchanadilok presided over the Buddha relic installation ceremony. Mayor of
Sattahip Municipality Narong Boonbanjerdsri also attended.
Abbot Wisalthamakorn said the relics are part of the bone of the Buddha, and
that they are greatly venerated by Buddhists everywhere. Placing them in
Thepprasit Temple allows devotees to visit them any day of the week,
strengthening their beliefs and inspiring them to lead respectful lives.
More volunteers added to community police program
215 community volunteers
attended the 3rd police volunteer training course.
Vimolrat Singnikorn
Mayor Niran Wattanasartsathorn presided over the third community volunteer
police officer training course, held at Pattaya Public Health Center on May
29 and with 215 volunteers present to learn how they can play an effective
role in helping police protect the public and their property.
The current program for volunteer community police stems from the National
Police Headquarters’ Plan for 2004-2005, which places emphasis on the
community and community relations for the prevention of and suppression of
crimes, seeking cooperation from communities for the expansion of crime
prevention networks.
Regional police after consideration agreed that community members should be
allowed to play a role in crime prevention, which would help to increase the
efficiency of the police in protecting the public and their property. This
would also enable the police to play more of an aggressive role in crime
prevention rather than just a responsive role, as well as take them into the
communities and villages.
Pattaya Municipal Police initially ran two volunteer police training courses
involving 355 volunteers and there are presently 191 registered volunteer
police officers. The results have so far been satisfactory and accepted by
the public, who have shown an interest in participating in the program.
Consequently, a third training course was organized involving 215
participants over a three-day period from May 29 to 31.
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