Police streetwalking in Pattaya: Will it prevent human trafficking?

Could a visible police presence help to prevent trafficking? Some people say that every bit helps, but it’s hard to believe that handing out leaflets and stickers will discourage any real bad guys. Put some punters off? Possibly. Cause a lot of young women to hide indoors while the police are walking by? Definitely. Note that the big catch described in the operation shown below was a 16-year-old who police suspected of being a prostitute, who said she was sightseeing and whom they forced to go home to her parents. It is hardly a trafficking story, and the cop’s swaggering, gum-chewing imitation of John Wayne doesn’t help. I do think outreach can be useful in raising awareness about some social problems, but the police need some advice in thinking this one through.

Walking street visited by police to prevent human trafficking, Pattaya People Weekly

On Thursday night, a team of 20 police under the supervision of Pol. Col. Worawong Tongpaiboob –the Superintendent of Human Trade Suppression, Region 2, and Pol. Maj. Nipon Jarernpon –a Deputy Superintendent, visited Walking Street to distribute leaflets, stickers and information regarding the Human Trade Crime Suppression Plan to local people and tourists. The police need help from all of Pattaya’s communities to solve the problems of Human Trafficking Crimes, such as Prostitution, Child Labor, Child Beggars and Child Prostitution more effectively. As Pattaya is a World Class tourist attraction, the number and variety of tourists here draws many criminals to the city.

Human Trafficking statistics in Pattaya are very high, as the city is full of bars, discos and many other adult entertainment venues. Communities must realize that Human Trafficking is one of the worst crimes one person can commit against another, causing great pain to those who are enslaved.

While visiting Walking St., the police found a 16 year old girl sitting with a foreigner in a bar, behaving suspiciously like a prostitute. She was detained and questioned, but claimed that she was only visiting Walking Street for a night of sightseeing. The police warned her about the outcome of the path that the police deemed she was walking on, and contacted her parents to take her home.

– Laura Agustín, the Naked Anthropologist

3 thoughts on “Police streetwalking in Pattaya: Will it prevent human trafficking?

  1. Andrew Hunter

    From the beachfront at Pattaya at night you can see thousands of lights at sea- these are fishing boats. Instead of walking around hassling sex workers the anti-trafficking police would be better off getting a boat as most legitimate organisations working on trafficking in Thailand point to forced labour of men onto fishing boats as being the real face of “trafficking” in Thailand in the 21st century. Dead bodies of men presumed to have jumped overboard to escape wash up on beaches quite regularly- but it’s not as sexy I guess…

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  2. Monex

    The concept derives substantially from the work of Jacques Donzelot who closely linked the social with conscious efforts at philanthropy predating their governmentalisation which he calls policing from the French police . The growth of the police in the eighteenth century relied on the power of the family promising it peace and happiness while extending police authority over the familys revels and cast-offs. Good women were besieged by police and social investigators one charged with ferreting out vice complained that the way women dress today they all look like prostitutes Peiss 1983 78 .

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