Legal Talk: What to do if You Get Stopped by the Thai Police [S6.E46]

Greg interviews resident legal expert Dave Lawrence about the ins
and outs of interacting with police officers in Bangkok. The guys
begin by going over the various options for run-ins with the boys
in brown in Bangkok, which run the gamut of being stopped while
walking down the street, while riding a motorbike, or while in a
taxi or car at a checkpoint.  The guys run through their own
personal experiences, which luckily turned out harmless
enough. 


Greg then queries Dave about a person's exact rights in Thailand,
and Dave goes through a helpful comparison and contrast with the
United States, a good foil given the fact that most people
understand how the U.S. works from movies and TV shows. Most
relevantly, Dave notes that Thailand does not have an equivalent
to America's 4th Amendment, which means that the Thai police can
pat you down or search you when you are encountered on the
street. The guys then discuss various informal strategies to
maybe wriggle your way out of an encounter, such as speaking only
English with a police officer who speaks only Thai, hoping that
the cop gives up out of frustration. 


The guys then go into more specific questions, such as: Do Thai
police have the right to stop you on the street and insist upon
your tourist? Dave explains that the problem in Thailand is that
these questions are not always answered explicitly in the law,
unlike in the West. While urine tests seem to be within the power
of the police during bar raids and at formal checkpoints, the
authority for random tests is unclear. In this case, a person can
always attempt to refuse, but how the police respond is anyone's
guess.  


Welcome to a country where the rule of law is not as strong as
back home, and not every question is answered in black and white
- more like a shade of brown. :)


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