Police can roll their
observation tower into place…
Warunya Thongrod
Calling it a symbol of truly tighter security, Pattaya police are
using their new observation tower to keep a better eye on tourists and crime
on Walking Street.
Launched in September, the “safety zone” declared on Walking Street now has
a more-prominent image, with a tower set up in the middle of the nightlife
district from 7 p.m. to 5 a.m.
Officers scout the street with binoculars, looking for transvestite
pickpockets, child beggars and other threats to tourists’ wallets and
Pattaya’s image. It also serves as the base for a larger squad of foot
patrol officers and volunteers.
The observation tower has been erected at the north end of the street and
volunteers from Pattaya’s 38 neighborhoods were recruited to join foot
patrols from 6 p.m. onward each day.
Police also have begun to identify and register transvestites loitering on
the street. Lt. Col. Kiattisak Srathongoil said information on more than 100
transvestites has been entered in a database officers can use when
investigating crimes, such as druggings or pickpocketing.
… to keep an eye on a larger
section of Walking Street.
Kiattisak said many of the light-fingered “women-of-the-second-category”
would lurk in Walking Street’s darker southern end and, in the past, would
commit crimes after foot-patrol officers had passed. With the observation
tower, he claimed, someone is always keeping an eye on them and can dispatch
officers immediately, if needed.
He added that the increasing number of drug-involved robberies has not gone
unnoticed and police are using their new South Pattaya base as a way to
crack down on offenders and trace the source of sedatives back to drug
stores selling them illegally.
Kiattisak said there also has been increased efforts to educate hotels to
take copies of the identification cards of Thai women accompanying tourists
back to their rooms. He acknowledged, however, that many times criminally
minded hookers use fake cards or those belonging to someone else.
