POLICE ISNT NICE AND DIDNT HELP ME
AND SAID ME GO THEY DIDNT UNDERSTAND
ENGLISH THEY JUST BUSY TO WATCH TV
Sam's problems started with one out of the ‘Classic Book of Tourist Scams’. It has been around since Austronesian tourists island-hopped from their Taiwan homeland to Luzon Island and decided to stay. The scam still happens daily wherever in the world tourists gather. In Sam’s case that was Hanoi.
The scam involves decoys (in this case two young women), accomplices, and a bit of muscle. The women feign interest in Sam’s photography with a bit of flirting thrown in. Then he’s lured to a house in the suburbs to meet ‘friends’; the girls disappear; Sam’s $4 000 digital camera is taken and will be returned on payment of 4 million Vietnamese dong; the appearance of Sam’s ATM card ups the ante. The card’s details are quickly menaced out of Sam, who soon finds himself in a side street, while his bank account is stripped.
Sam** is clearly not a native speaker of English, but his text message is eloquent none the less. His ability to communicate in any language is severely limited. He is deaf and incapable of speech. Despite this handicap he has spent more than a year travelling around developing Asia on his own, indulging in his hobby, photography, without incident- until now.
If this is typical of any tourist destination in the world, the next stage is more typically developing Asia.
The suburban police station is dingy, dark and musty. The three officers in their bright green uniforms are drinking the ubiquitous caphe da (iced coffee) watching a historical drama on TV. Sam is accompanied by an English speaking and bi lingual Vietnamese friend. The police are less than impressed with this Saturday afternoon intrusion. They tell the intruders to go away. After some insistence from Sam’s friends, the senior policeman hands Sam a crime report sheet and Sam and his support group are unceremoniously shooed out into the rain-washed street. Sam and his expat friend are shocked by the behaviour of the police. The Vietnamese friend shrugs. What did they expect?
A few years back, the the then President of India, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, voiced his version of the qualities he thought were necessary for an effective Indian police force. “The police force”, he said “should be friendly, corruption-free, responsible, tolerant of ambiguity and pressure...caring for the people with a sense of compassion and empathy.” ¹ The good doctor may have been a touch over-optimistic but he did hit on the things that police in developing Asia aren’t.
Your average developing world police officer is poorly educated and barely trained. New training for police in the Indian state of Kerala includes "how to handle and use a Computer; how to drive a jeep & motor cycle; drill and musketry; handle and use wireless set; to write reports; to be properly sensitized to the special need of women and children; to know much about different kinds of weapons and explosives; to handle traffic safety matters...to communicate properly on telephone;to swim under field conditions..."
All very useful stuff, no doubt, especially being 'sensitized' to the needs of women and children, but what about understanding the law, people's rights (if they have any), social responsibility, serving the community? Well, of course these things are all part of Dr Kalam's pipe dream. Knowing about weapons and 'musketry' are more appropriate for a force whose primary role is social control. It doesn't matter how far states have come along the road to 'democracy', India, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, the police are there to keep the masses suitably cowed.
And cops don't make much in the way of money. An Indian police superintendent, for example, earns less than $US 1 000 per annum. And cops earn little or nothing in the way of respect, except what they can whip up. These things hardly add up to incentives. And police officers are ultimately accountable to the system, not the people they 'police'.
It's a thankless, often tedious job- endless paper work. But the pay-off is the 'authority'. You might call it corruption. 87% of Indians do. That was the percentage of respondents who stated in a survey that they regard the police as corrupt and untrustworthy. And for good reason. From time to time Indian national newspapers expose massive corruption in the country's various police forces. Eventually, the weight of public pressure cracks the sounds of bureaucratic silence and bank accounts are prised open and homes are raided and middle level police officers are found to have assets way above their earnings. It's no more than tickling the tip of the ice berg, not much but it's something. The people of Vietname have no recourse..
An open Toyota ute crawls slowly down a suburban Ho Chi Minh City street. Aboard are five auxilliary cops armed with wooden batons and one full policeman next to the driver. The patrol is selectively enforcing the letter of the law, which requires pavements in front of businesses to be clear of obstructions. The word passes down the street: 'police raid'. People in street side cafes and other businesses scramble to clear tables, chairs, sewing machines, mobile cafes from the pavement. But the word is slow to get around the corner into Quang Hai Street. The police ute is soon loaded with two tables and eight chairs from Cuong's Cafe. Next door Mrs Thuy loses two drink cooler units. Her livilihood. On payment of the standard 'fine' of 500 000 Vietnam dong, the confiscated property will be returned. Across the street from Mrs Thuy's, at Mr Ton's roadside restaurant, diners sit at tables spread to the edge of the pavement, watch nonchalantly as Mrs Thuy's source of income is loaded onto the ute. Mr Ton's business, it seems, is untouchable. .
These jungle-green-clad police officers are the same ones who dismissed Sam's case so flippantly. But what's to do?, as they say in India. A responsible, half opaque police force is still in Dr Kalam's head. Developing country police forces are seen as a necessary pain in the neck and the wallet. The alternative, in societies where the gap between rich and poor is growing and political corruption is rife, is anarchic banditry.
The Hindu, January 6, 2007
http://www.hindu.com/2007/01/06/stories
http://trg.svpnpa.gov.in/pt/keralaabtacad.asp
India Corruption Study, vol.9, Centre for Media Studies,
http://www.cmsindia.org/cms/events/policedepartment.pdf
AND SAID ME GO THEY DIDNT UNDERSTAND
ENGLISH THEY JUST BUSY TO WATCH TV
Sam's problems started with one out of the ‘Classic Book of Tourist Scams’. It has been around since Austronesian tourists island-hopped from their Taiwan homeland to Luzon Island and decided to stay. The scam still happens daily wherever in the world tourists gather. In Sam’s case that was Hanoi.
The scam involves decoys (in this case two young women), accomplices, and a bit of muscle. The women feign interest in Sam’s photography with a bit of flirting thrown in. Then he’s lured to a house in the suburbs to meet ‘friends’; the girls disappear; Sam’s $4 000 digital camera is taken and will be returned on payment of 4 million Vietnamese dong; the appearance of Sam’s ATM card ups the ante. The card’s details are quickly menaced out of Sam, who soon finds himself in a side street, while his bank account is stripped.
Sam** is clearly not a native speaker of English, but his text message is eloquent none the less. His ability to communicate in any language is severely limited. He is deaf and incapable of speech. Despite this handicap he has spent more than a year travelling around developing Asia on his own, indulging in his hobby, photography, without incident- until now.
If this is typical of any tourist destination in the world, the next stage is more typically developing Asia.
The suburban police station is dingy, dark and musty. The three officers in their bright green uniforms are drinking the ubiquitous caphe da (iced coffee) watching a historical drama on TV. Sam is accompanied by an English speaking and bi lingual Vietnamese friend. The police are less than impressed with this Saturday afternoon intrusion. They tell the intruders to go away. After some insistence from Sam’s friends, the senior policeman hands Sam a crime report sheet and Sam and his support group are unceremoniously shooed out into the rain-washed street. Sam and his expat friend are shocked by the behaviour of the police. The Vietnamese friend shrugs. What did they expect?
A few years back, the the then President of India, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, voiced his version of the qualities he thought were necessary for an effective Indian police force. “The police force”, he said “should be friendly, corruption-free, responsible, tolerant of ambiguity and pressure...caring for the people with a sense of compassion and empathy.” ¹ The good doctor may have been a touch over-optimistic but he did hit on the things that police in developing Asia aren’t.
Your average developing world police officer is poorly educated and barely trained. New training for police in the Indian state of Kerala includes "how to handle and use a Computer; how to drive a jeep & motor cycle; drill and musketry; handle and use wireless set; to write reports; to be properly sensitized to the special need of women and children; to know much about different kinds of weapons and explosives; to handle traffic safety matters...to communicate properly on telephone;to swim under field conditions..."
All very useful stuff, no doubt, especially being 'sensitized' to the needs of women and children, but what about understanding the law, people's rights (if they have any), social responsibility, serving the community? Well, of course these things are all part of Dr Kalam's pipe dream. Knowing about weapons and 'musketry' are more appropriate for a force whose primary role is social control. It doesn't matter how far states have come along the road to 'democracy', India, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, the police are there to keep the masses suitably cowed.
And cops don't make much in the way of money. An Indian police superintendent, for example, earns less than $US 1 000 per annum. And cops earn little or nothing in the way of respect, except what they can whip up. These things hardly add up to incentives. And police officers are ultimately accountable to the system, not the people they 'police'.
It's a thankless, often tedious job- endless paper work. But the pay-off is the 'authority'. You might call it corruption. 87% of Indians do. That was the percentage of respondents who stated in a survey that they regard the police as corrupt and untrustworthy. And for good reason. From time to time Indian national newspapers expose massive corruption in the country's various police forces. Eventually, the weight of public pressure cracks the sounds of bureaucratic silence and bank accounts are prised open and homes are raided and middle level police officers are found to have assets way above their earnings. It's no more than tickling the tip of the ice berg, not much but it's something. The people of Vietname have no recourse..
An open Toyota ute crawls slowly down a suburban Ho Chi Minh City street. Aboard are five auxilliary cops armed with wooden batons and one full policeman next to the driver. The patrol is selectively enforcing the letter of the law, which requires pavements in front of businesses to be clear of obstructions. The word passes down the street: 'police raid'. People in street side cafes and other businesses scramble to clear tables, chairs, sewing machines, mobile cafes from the pavement. But the word is slow to get around the corner into Quang Hai Street. The police ute is soon loaded with two tables and eight chairs from Cuong's Cafe. Next door Mrs Thuy loses two drink cooler units. Her livilihood. On payment of the standard 'fine' of 500 000 Vietnam dong, the confiscated property will be returned. Across the street from Mrs Thuy's, at Mr Ton's roadside restaurant, diners sit at tables spread to the edge of the pavement, watch nonchalantly as Mrs Thuy's source of income is loaded onto the ute. Mr Ton's business, it seems, is untouchable. .
These jungle-green-clad police officers are the same ones who dismissed Sam's case so flippantly. But what's to do?, as they say in India. A responsible, half opaque police force is still in Dr Kalam's head. Developing country police forces are seen as a necessary pain in the neck and the wallet. The alternative, in societies where the gap between rich and poor is growing and political corruption is rife, is anarchic banditry.
The Hindu, January 6, 2007
http://www.hindu.com/2007/01/06/stories
http://trg.svpnpa.gov.in/pt/keralaabtacad.asp
India Corruption Study, vol.9, Centre for Media Studies,
http://www.cmsindia.org/cms/events/policedepartment.pdf