Next to Pattaya City is the much less well-known municipality of Nongprue. But it has some famous features such The Million Years Stone Park, The Floating Market and a popular mayor, Dr Mai Chaiyanit who has been in office over 30 years. The total area is nearly 200 square miles.
The present Nongprue police station was opened in 2011, initially under the control of Banglamung police authority, but gaining its independence a few years later. There are also a series of sub-stations, one of which in Soi Khao Talo houses an unusual development in community policing.
“It’s my second home,” says British expat David Eke, who has been a police assistant for many years. The sub-station is a tiny base of about 50 square meters but popular with Thais and foreigners alike who use it as an information base and informal counseling center.
Although there are volunteer police assistance groups with foreign membership in the Greater Pattaya area, David is not a member by choice and is the sole non-Thai working at the sub-station under the authority of Thai police officers. He has his own set of keys and even keeps the place spick and span.
David, who has a career background in security and worked for DHL International’s rapid-response-team before settling in Thailand, said, “A lot of the work is advising people if they lose their passport or have their ID card stolen, mediating and translating in domestic disputes, dealing with the homeless and assisting in road traffic control on busy roads.”
He is unpaid, has no independent powers of arrest and reports directly to the Thai police captain in charge of the sub-station. Often on duty alone, David keeps in touch with colleagues by radio and is sometimes asked to accompany them to an arrest situation or a tragedy where an intermediary or translator is required. He also teaches English to officers based at the main Nongprue police station.
Asked why he does it, David says it’s a good way of meeting people whilst playing a constructive role in encouraging community policing which has been his passion for many years. He explains, “The central goal is building relationships with both locals and expats, creating partnerships and developing strategies for reducing crime by integrating the police with the community rather than seeing them as separate entities.”
David stresses that the coronavirus pandemic has created a lot of unemployment amongst Thais as foreign tourism has disappeared. “There are a lot of small-scale house burglaries these days with the criminal just stealing an item worth a few hundred baht (about four UK pounds) often to sell it and buy food.” He adds that, of course, there is an illegal drugs problem in the municipality, but no different from anywhere else.
As we were leaving the sub-station, a white-faced foreigner rushed in to explain that a long snake had appeared in his garden and had already eaten the cat. Of course, that’s not strictly a police matter and is handled by a specialist snake-handling team in the local authority, as David explains. Take a seat sir.
