Wal Brown, the head co-ordinator of the Region 8 International Volunteers group, said that in addition to the five who have already quit, he and the remaining 21 volunteers had “stood down” from their positions, saying the group needed “better direction”.
“We need to resolve some of the issues – we are being used by some of the police. Some are using us to extort money from tourists, and we won’t tolerate that.”
Mr Brown told The Phuket News that he was tired of being subjected to “shady situations”.
“The International Volunteers had a problem where a tourist was ordered to pay B20,000 more than the original compensation for damage to a room because he asked for assistance from a volunteer.
“The tourist was also threatened with a greater fine and jail if he were to talk with the volunteer again.
“This is one of a number of issues where the International Volunteers have been used against a tourist.
“Five of the 26 volunteers have already resigned because of the above incident and the program is in doubt after the meeting yesterday,” he said.
Mr Brown said the “fate” of the remaining 20 or so expats in the group would be clarified after they meet with police next Thursday [March 13] at Kathu police station.
Different from the Phuket Tourist Police volunteers, the Region 8 group works directly under the Southern Thailand regional police command, Mr Brown said.
Mr Brown said some of the volunteers had been working in Phuket and Patong for more than eight years and “have a lot of experience dealing with situations on the street”.
“These volunteers have been working more closely with the RTP (Royal Thai Police) over the past four years and have worked hard to break the barrier that used to exist between them and us.
“Most tourists who meet the police on the streets today have a rewarding experience because our volunteers have been interacting with the police and talking to them about the cultural differences.
“The police have more confidence with their English skills and are less threatened when a tourist asks them for assistance,” Mr Brown said.
Official police reaction to the allegations was initially confused, but a meeting is to be held tomorrow (March 7) to try to straighten things out.
In answer to an enquiry from The Phuket News, Phuket Provincial Commander Maj Gen Ong-art Pheiwreungnond said this was the first he had heard about the problem and he would look into it.
An assistant to Gen Ong-art’s superior, Region 8 Commander, Lt Gen Panya Mamen, told The Phuket News that the General was not available and that we should contact the new commander of Kathu Police, Col Sakchai Limcharoen.
But Col Sakchai (appointed only on Tuesday), said he knew nothing about the problem and that we should call his predecessor, Col Jirapat Pochanapan.
Col Jirapat said, “Right now there’s no conclusion about this. But there will be a meeting to work things out tomorrow (March 7) at Kathu Police Station. I will have someone from the police station look into this and we will settle everything later.”
Mr Brown confirmed this afternoon that the remaining volunteers had been invited to the meeting – to be chaired by Col Sakchai.