Police role in scams a ‘national insult’;
City council threatens watercraft ban
Pratchaya Kerdthong
Widespread scams by Pattaya jet ski operators have drawn
the attention of both Chonburi’s governor and the Ministry of Justice, who
are demanding city officials, police and local businesspeople work together
to resolve a situation that has become a national embarrassment.
Mayor Itthiphol Kunplome called in jet ski vendors to
meet with city and police officials April 12, warning them that the Pattaya
City Council wants to ban all jet skis on Pattaya Beach and that foreign
media are now watching their every move.
The Justice Ministry, he added, became involved after
seeing Internet videos of law enforcement officers helping vendors who
falsely claim their customers damaged jet skis, then demand tens of thousand
of baht in compensation, sometimes physically assaulting those who refuse to
pay.
Ministry officials, Itthiphol said, called the situation
an “insult” to the image of the entire country and believe swift action is
needed to resolve a “serious problem.”
Itthiphol has been inundated with complaints from
non-Thais about the jet ski problem since the Pattaya Mail posted videos and
links to reports of the scams to his Facebook page earlier this year.
Since then, dozens of new reports, photos and movies have
been added, all showing the same thing: Jet ski vendors are systematically
targeting mostly non-Western tourists for ripoffs. And, photos show, they
are getting a handful of corrupt police officers and non-Thai “interpreters”
to help them.
The outcry has since spread from the social networking
website to independent blogs and even newspaper reports in England,
Australia and Europe.
Tourist Police commander Lt. Col. Arun Prompan said the
jet ski situation “has gotten worse” and said that, right or wrong, he has
prohibited Tourist Police officers from getting involved in disputes. As he
put it, (paraphrased) the jet ski operators are ‘destroying their own rice
barn’. He urges them to build a sustainable living from their rentals and
not cheat tourists as a means for extra income. In other words, he said the
jet ski operators need to straighten out this situation amongst themselves,
otherwise no one will rent from them any more and even the honest jet ski
rental businesses will be hurt.
Deputy Mayor Ronakit Ekasingh added that police are not
the ones who should be mediating such disputes because, the way the law is
written, the problem is a civil, not a criminal, matter.
He said revisions of the law now under consideration
would require all jet ski vendors in Pattaya, Jomtien Beach and Koh Larn to
register with the city. The new law will also rezone the beach to establish
regulated, monitored watersports areas.
Maj. Kititat Kanchai of the Pattaya Police Station said
the jet ski vendors are also being targeted for drug use and sales. Many
times, he said, operators that have been checked tested positive for drugs.
