The officer talking to him demanded that he step out of the car standard procedure. My dumb friend continued to argue belligerently. I turned and saw another cop standing behind the car, eyes fixed on us, one hand on his pistol holster standard procedure. I know how it would have gone down if a cool head had not prevailed. One night, rolling down the street, rap music blasting, a friend in the driver's seat, we were pulled over. I've seen the footage of the Rodney King beat-down. I always hear the theme song in my head when approached by the police, ''Bad boys, bad boys/what you gonna do/what you gonna do when they come for you''. This is because I grew up in the great state of Texas where I learned to fear the police, especially as a brown boy who speaks English with an accent. I just blew dutifully and passed both times. Both times, I offered no argument and didn't tell them who my daddy was. I've been stopped twice at police checkpoints. The police must establish authority and control the situation, not be pushed around by some punk kids who might know somebody _ isn't that the way it should be? I'm certain he's not a Royal Thai Police officer, but the sticker served a purpose, to plant the notion that this farang might actually know somebody. Such is the way the system works that I know an Aussie who had a Royal Thai Police sticker on the window of his car. Of course, this isn't always the case, but usually is when the police have to deal with someone who ''might know someone''. It is of little wonder that the law in Thailand is so impotent and disrespected, that some people think they can get away with anything. To have a badge, a uniform and a pistol, to be the law, but yet to have so little power to enforce the law, getting pushed around by young punks _ all this and worse for just 6,000 baht a month. I actually felt sorry for the officer in charge of the checkpoint _ looking tired and uncomfortable with tape recorders and microphones jammed in his face _ I really did. Hours later, she failed the breathalyzer anyway. The stinker is that the policeman was OK with it, because it was supposedly standard procedure. Because, you know, if you frisk me now, you'd find cocaine.''
This attitude of the less-hot member of Girly Berry is like a drug dealer telling the arresting officer: ''Hold on, let me hide this bag of cocaine in the bush, and then you can frisk me. The logic (or lack thereof) of her thinking should prove that she was indeed drunk, completely insane or hopelessly brainwashed by the privileges of patronage. The pop singer refused to take a breathalyzer, insisting that the police give her time to rest and drink lots of water so that she can pass the test. So having your authority as an enforcer of the law and your ability to perform your duty undermined by your superior is the norm. When questioned if some senior official had phoned the officer in charge of the checkpoint in order to get the pop singer a pass, the police officer says yes, and that this is the norm. Ranting and raving fools, with the police politely, meekly trying to calm them down, but failing to do so _ until the fools themselves run out of breath. Watch the video of the scene and you will spot the following: What makes such behaviour normal and commonplace _ and often successful _ is the cooperative attitude of the police themselves.
They got out, ranted and raved at the police and the press who had gathered there _ bratty, belligerent drunken boys trying to save a damsel in drunken distress from the men in brown in the hope that she might put in a good word for them with Giftzy, the really hot one. Later, another car arrived at the checkpoint with two men said to be her friends. According to the police, she initially refused to blow into a breathalyzer and said that she's ''a celebrity and knows many senior police officials''. On Tuesday at 1:45am, the 28-year-old pop singer's vehicle was stopped at a traffic checkpoint on Phatthanakan Road. That's why I like the prime minister, and in a girl group where neither member can sing nor dance, hotness is the only measurement of likeability.Ĭarrying on with last Sunday's theme of the rich and fabulous getting away with (alleged) crimes due to the deeply entrenched patronage system which grants privileges and upholds connections, today we examine the role of the men in brown. When I found out it was Giftza, Piya Pongkulapa, the less-hot one, I breathed a sigh of relief. Was it Giftzy, Vanida Termtanaporn, the hot one? When I first heard a member of the Girly Berry pop group was arrested for driving under the influence, my heart skipped a beat.