Tourist Police beef up numbers in anticipation of AEC in 2015

Pol Maj-General Adis Ngamchitsuksri said yesterday that his division would be expanded to 1,759 officers from 987 at present and would have to work more closely with other organisations to increase its work efficiency.
In Asean, only Thailand and Malaysia have a tourist police force, he said. However, the evidence is clear that Thailand is better prepared, especially for helping tourists of all stripes.
In 2015, Tourist Police will have to work even harder as a unique team because tourism-born trouble would be more complicated, Adis said.
When the division was set up in 1993, about 6 million to 7 million people were visiting Thailand. By 2015, the number of inbound tourists is expected to soar to 30 million from 20 million this year.
Phuket and Pattaya are prime focuses, as they are the country’s biggest cash cows for tourism. However, the more they develop, the more problems they spin off.

PHUKET, PATTAYA
Tourist Police have 50 officers currently stationed in Phuket and 30 in Pattaya, but their numbers will grow along with the increase in complaints in the future, Adis said.
The division needs to get serious about collecting data on tourists from other countries so that wrongdoers can be tracked down, he said. Clearly, when borders are opened up, foreigners stream in, including criminals who come here as tourists to engage in illegal activities.
Their destinations are also regional.
This year, illegal jewellery outlets and jet-ski and taxi operators in Phuket are the first priority to bring under control.
 In particular, jewellery scams are causing a bad name for the country.
Yesterday, the Tourism Ministry signed an agreement to certify outlets as clean as a way to tackle the sale of fake gems, gold and ornaments.
Qualified outlets will be given a symbol to guarantee their products.
Of the 128 jewellery stores in total, mainly in Bangkok, 50-60 are expected to join the campaign.