How to behave as a tourist in Thailand

How to behave as a tourist in Thailand

Some media outlets in Thailand have published instructions for travellers on how to avoid unwanted excesses when encountering the police. These publications have been prompted by high-profile scandals that have occurred when foreign visitors and police officers have met and extorted a certain amount of cash.
If you are offered to pay without drawing up a report when you meet the police:

1. Keep calm, because almost all law enforcement officers do their job and only a small percentage of them use their official position for their own enrichment.
2. If you are stopped: do not make confessions and do not give consent to any filming.
3. Police officers have the right to demand that you show your passport or identity document. In this case, you must comply, but demand that you return the document. You also have the right to demand your ID from the police officers, if they have not shown it to you themselves. And it is better to do it as soon as you are stopped and asked to show your documents.
4. Before allowing yourself to be searched, try to find an independent witness or use your phone to record the process.
5. Do not sign any documents if you cannot read Thai and the document is written only in Thai.
6. In case the situation you find yourself in is serious enough (accident, drugs), demand to contact a representative of the diplomatic mission of your country.
7. In case the conversation is about paying a fine or bribe, firmly but politely refuse and ask for help from an interpreter, a member of the diplomatic mission or a member of the tourist police. Sometimes an on-the-spot fine is more favourable than litigation.