The tourist police of Chiang Rai pride themselves on their values and principles of: leadership, order, discipline, honesty, efficiency and professionalism. They are in the process of moving to another location and working on to get more budgets to expand their force and activities.
This interview is about the Chiang Rai Tourist Police operations and we had the distinct pleasure of sitting down for an interview with Police Sergeant Major Patcharaporn Khatsiri. We asked her first to introduce herself and then explain the main responsibilities of the tourist police here.
Welcome, my name is Patcharaporn Khatsiri. I am a Police Sergeant Major of the Chiang Rai Tourist Police. I have a master in Law and therefore started as an interpreter at the Chiang Rai Court before joining the Tourist Police. My responsibilities nowadays are being the financier of the subdivision and I’m mainly working at the office. Starting from next April I will be working at the airport to welcome the tourists and protect them.
The unit comprising 24 personnel is currently headed by an inspector. However, 25 Unit’s staff is not enough and we are in need of more.
What are the responsibilities of The Tourist Police?
The Tourist Police is a Service of the Thai Police Force staffed with specially trained, foreign-language speaking personnel. Within the framework of its duties and functions, we also provide information to Thai and foreign visitors and offer them assistance in settling any issues arising with tourist businesses.
We cooperate with local competent Directorates of Tourism, local authorities and VIP (members of the Royal Family) in order to deal with tourism issues, protection and safety. Therefore we work closely with the local police and the emergency department. When there is an accident, we will contact each other for help. And when it’s involving foreigners and there is a language issue, they will always contact us. In some cases, we are also in contact with the embassy.
We ensure that the tourist legislation in force is applied in all tourist areas, businesses and media, such as hotels, apartments and rooms to let, tourist shops, tourist agencies and coaches, car and motorcycle rental agencies, historic sites, tourist guides, resorts, spa towns, mass arrival/departure stations, sanitary facilities operating in tourist businesses and sites of free camping etc.
And we also carry out inspections of tourist businesses with the aim to provide better services and higher protection to all visitors.
What is the area you cover? Is that only Chiang Rai or more?
The Tourist Police controls an area of 2 provinces: Chiang Rai province and Phayao province.
When you see cops not wearing their uniform, but driving a Tourist Police car, does that mean they’re not on duty?
That might. We wear our uniforms on Mondays and Thursdays. Tuesday and Wednesday are the yellow polo days and on Friday we wear Northern style clothings.
On Thursday you might catch us wearing sportswear. This is due to our campaign to promote team spirit, sports, health and condition. Our team is fond of jogging, football/soccer and badminton.
What was your funniest experience at the Tourist police?
My funniest experience was when I just started to do this work, years ago. There was a lady coming in and told she seriously needed help after a fight with a man from The Military Bank. As I just started and really want to do my best in helping people, I took her under my guardian. We spent 1 full day in reporting at the local police, medical checks at the hospital etc. and at the end of the day it appeared to be that she was on drugs, and made the whole thing up with her imaginations. And when the drugs were not working anymore, she was not capable of talking, said only “Mai pen rai”, and… felt asleep! I was very serious in being helpful, but ever since, being very careful and learned the lesson. Luckily, I can look back and see the humorous part of it.
What was your worst experience so far?
My worst experience was when a married couple, a foreign man and a Thai lady, came in at the office, screaming and yelling and had a huge fight and wanted to divorce.
Our duty is to intermediate and after 3 hours reporting and having several people working on this case, to prevent them from fighting, they left the office.
But just when I looked outside 1 minute later…They were all kissing and making out on the street! We were disappointed in the hours spend on reporting, because we needed to cancel that report. It was such a waste of time.
Do you, Police Sergeant Major Patcharaporn Khatsiri, have any suggestions that may help the visitors of Chiang Rai to make their visit more comfortable?
1. To have a comfortable time during your visit, please stay in the city or within
10 Kilometers from the city.
2. Find the good (English speaking) neighbors.
3. Do not stay alone or travel alone.
4. You need to have transportation, in case of emergency/ going to hospital etc.
And last, but not least, in case you need any help, do not hesitate to contact the Thai Tourist Police by dialing “1155”.
This number will lead you to the central operation in Bangkok.
If you do have an emerging serious problem and need help, please contact us or go to the Chiang Rai Tourist Police. The Chiang Rai Tourist Police can be reached around-the-clock by dialing: 053-740249
This line provides all kinds of information and instructions in Thai and English, thus helping tourists to deal directly with any arising problem.
The office is open daily from 8.30 am. - 4.30 pm.
The Chiang Rai Tourist Police is also in need of Spanish and English speaking volunteers (for events and translations in court etc.). Please register at the new location of the Tourist Police Office at Nohnseejaeng, when you’re available for this kind of help.
For more information, we invite you to visit our website:
www.chiangraitouristpolice.com
(Nationally) http://www.thaitouristpolice.com/ or www.tourist.police.go.th
E-mail: tourist@police.go.th
Dear Khun Patcharaporn, it was a pleasure meeting you today. Your explanations and experiences at the Tourist Police were informative, insightful and a great help to us. Thank you for making time to meet with us and for sharing your thoughts.
