Parts of the penal code you should know

Section 137.- Whoever gives any false information to any official, and is likely to cause injury to any person or the public, shall be punished with imprisonment not exceeding six months or fine not exceeding one thousand bath, or both.

Section 143.- Whoever demands, accepts or agrees to accept a property or any other benefit for himself or the other person as a return for inducting or having induced, by dishonest or unlawful means, or by using his influence, any official, member of the State Legislative Assembly, member of the Changvad Assembly or member of the Municipal Assembly to exercise or not to exercise any of his functions, which is advantageous or disadvantageous to any person, shall be punished with imprisonment not exceeding five years or fine not exceeding ten thousand bath, or both.

Section 144.- Whoever gives, offers or agrees to give a property or any other benefit to any official, member of the State Legislative Assembly, member of the Changvad Assembly or member of the Municipal Assembly in order to induce such person to do or not to do any act, or to delay the doing of any act, which is contrary to his functions, shall be punished with imprisonment not exceeding five years or fine not exceeding ten thousand bath, or both.

Show this to the cop who demands a bribe, just tell him that you would like to give him but that it is prohibited by law ..... then watch his face

Thailand has great civil and criminal codes all influenced directly by the French and German doctrines of conduct.....the obvious problem is in getting Thai police officials to properly carry out those criminal codes.

The short term answer to this situation is to pay the piper.

sirreal wrote:Thailand has great civil and criminal codes all influenced directly by the French and German doctrines of conduct.....the obvious problem is in getting Thai police officials to properly carry out those criminal codes.

The short term answer to this situation is to pay the piper.

I can't, it makes me feel awful. I have a VDO camera stuck on my wind shield and when a cop appears on my right hand window I turn that camera to that direction. The reaction is absolutely funny, all is on record, the stories I get before they whisk me through are worth a movie. Basically when I am wrong I like to pay the full fine and expect a receipt, when they want half without a receipt I tell them "cannot" or I explain in Thai that I break the law if I pay them on the window. They are not used to this and the stories to get rid of me are worth an Oscar hahaha

In the old days (when I didn't have the money to pay!) I found that speaking to the Thai policeman in very clear and fast English always got me out of there pretty quickly without having to pay.

sirreal wrote:In the old days (when I didn't have the money to pay!) I found that speaking to the Thai policeman in very clear and fast English always got me out of there pretty quickly without having to pay.

True, if you somehow startle them they want to get rid of you quickly. For me it's not a point to have or not to have money, I just abhor paying cops pocket money, it's a strong confiction.