So Just How Dangerous Is It Here?

It seems when I read Stick's weekly report, there are too many reports of a Farang who took an unexpected "flying lesson" from a hotel balcony, or a woman who was raped. A recent CNN segment spoke of Thailand as being a kind of vortex for criminal activity. Why is it that every pedophile or social deviant seems to get apprehended in Thailand? So I suppose it's time to ask the simple question, just how dangerous is it here?

I am not the world's best Internet researcher. I'm sure that many of you could do a much better job than me in tracking down statistics. In fact that some of you will fill in some of the gaps. But anyway here's what I was able to determine. Let's start with murder.

Crime Statistics > Murders (per capita) (most recent) by country

So the Land of Smiles comes in at an Amazing # 14! Wow! I thought my former home in the U.S.A. was a dangerous place! But it comes in at # 24. Still not an enviable position, but less than little old Thailand. Does this make afraid to walk the streets? Not in the least. First of all most murders are the result of domestic disputes. Jealous husbands, wives, boyfriends, girlfriends tend to take their revenge seriously! I remember a massage girl I knew in Bangkok. In the middle of my massage she received a phone call. Her brother, who was a police captain in Isaan and his wife had just been shot dead. Apparently someone was fooling around with someone whose spouse took umbrage at the affair settled things the tried and true Thai way. Often times alcohol is a major factor which can turn a seemingly minor dispute into a deadly one. I recently wrote about how enjoyable Songkran was here in Lampang, and how much alcohol was being consumed. According to my wife during the wee hours of the night there were a number of stabbings and a shooting or two. Undoubtedly there are places that any Farang should not venture into late at night, but that's true back in Farangland as well.

Here the USA tops the list to my everlasting shame. Thailand comes in at # 14! Boy that's one statistic you're not likely to hear about from the Thai Tourist Authority! What I have been unable to determine, and perhaps some of you can help me with this, is how many tourists are raped here every year. Rape is of course an under reported crime worldwide. Many women are simply ashamed to tell anyone about their violation. Often police departments are not prepared to deal with the trauma of a rape victim. Somehow I don't imagine that the boys in brown have received any special training. In many cases men who are in positions of authority still hold to the notion that it must have been the woman's fault. She was "asking for it." Make no mistake about it. Rape has nothing to do with sex and everything to do with abuse. I would imagine that the girls working the P4P trade must be especially vulnerable. First of all some (not many, but even a few are too much) Farangs are sickos, who consider the bar girls just "so much meat." These guys delight in playing out their sick violent fantasies. Second of all I don't imagine the police would have much sympathy. Hey, If you're in that line of work, what can you expect? Then there is the matter of spousal rape. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't believe the Thai judicial system even recognizes that as a crime. So how dangerous is it for a woman tourist to walk around at night? I suppose the best advice is for ladies to watch how much they drink, and to try not to walk alone in secluded places. That's so sad really. But I think in general tourists are not in any greater danger here than they would be back in the west.

What about violent assaults in general? For some reason I'm not able to copy and paste the chart. I'll just say that coming in at # 1 is South Africa at 12.0752 assaults per 1000. Thailand does a bit better here at # 44 with 3.13542 per thousand. Again I am unable to find out how many assaults are committed against tourists. Stick always manages to relate a dust up or two. Some are unprovoked attacks. Others seem to be a well deserved beating of a drunk who was way over the line in one way or another.

Here are some other vital stats.

Women make up more than 10% of the prison population in only six countries: Thailand, , Qatar, Paraguay, Costa Rica, and Singapore.

Now let's talk about the biggest danger to all of us living here, traffic accidents. Here's an interesting quote from the International Red Cross regarding motorcycle accidents.

Thailand has one of the highest rates of motorcycle injuries and deaths in Southeast Asia because not enough drivers wear a safety helmet, according to officials and aid agencies. Alarmingly, the number of motorcycle accidents in the country doubled between 2001 and 2005, with 80,000 accidents reported last year, according to the Royal Thai Police Office. What's more, around 38,000 accident-related injuries were reported in 2005 compared to 19,000 in 2001.

According to the statistics for burglary, Thailand doesn't seem like a hot spot for house breaking. That of course doesn't stop the Thais from walling themselves in. Robert Frost once coined the line, "good fences good neighbors make." I doubt though they he had in mind the kind of fortress mentality that every Thai seems to share. My darling wife wouldn't even consider not having our home "protected" by walls and gates. She really and truly believes that if the gate were to be left open, even during the day, hat hoards of burglars would descend to ransack the place! Why do I have visions of guys dressed like the Beagle Boys straight out of Scrooge McDuck? I actually like to keep the gate closed, but only to keep stray dogs from using our yard as a toilet, but the idea that our wall would keep any determined thief out is absurd. I demonstrated this to my wife by climbing over it in about 5 seconds. Boy, that's a real deterrent! One of my neighbors has broken glass cemented to the top of his wall. That would hurt I must admit.

A Dutch friend who lives on a secluded dirt road behind our house isn't taking any chances, since his house was broken into a few years ago and thousands of dollars worth of audio and computer equipment were stolen. It turns out that the thief was a student of his wife. This guy apparently should be featured on The World's Dumbest Criminals. The computer needed a security code to be entered before it could be used. The thief brought it to a local computer shop and told the owner some B.S. about losing the code. The owner said to leave it with him and he would work on it. While doing just that, the owner was shocked to see a picture of my friend's wife come up on the screen. Apparently she was a friend of his! Smelling a rat, he contacted the police, who set up a "sting operation". When the unsuspecting thief showed up to pick up "his" computer, the detectives pounced on the fool.

Eventually my neighbor got all of his equipment returned, but having been burned once, he wasn't about to take any chances in the future. When you approach his home, the first thing you see are large signs warning that his fence is electrified! (and it really is!) If for some reason some Ninja pole vaulted over the fence, halogen lights so bright that that would melt paint would come on. If someone were actually able to enter the house, sirens would immediately start blaring so loudly, that you would think that the gates of Hell had opened! Somehow I don't think my friend needs fear any more robberies. Is all this overkill? Well his job often requires him to be away from home for extended periods of time. If nothing else he can rest a little easier while on the road.

For myself, I'm content to have some motion activated floodlights around the house. Although my wife wanted to, I refused to have bars on the windows. Hey, what am I, a prisoner? The best defense we have against burglary are our neighbors, some of whom notice every little movement in the neighborhood.

So let's sum it all up. If you are in the wrong place at the wrong time, you probably could get yourself murdered, assaulted, raped, robbed or run over. But on the whole you could probably manage to do that back in Farangland. That's not to say that we don't all need to be vigilant. That's just common sense. But I can honestly say that I never fear for my life here in the Land of Smiles...except of course when driving! Then all bets for survival are off!

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