In “The Land of Smiles,” are the Thai police really smiling?

Posted on January 2, 2009 by John

smiling_thai_policeWhen I saw this photo of a Thai motorcycle highway policeman wearing his newly required “pollution mask,” I just had to laugh; it kind of reminded me of Ronald McDonald. Why do Thai officers have to wear these masks? According to the commander of the highway police: “For our highway policemen, we have the policy that the police must be friendly and smiling all the time, but the problem is when we’re tired, it’s hard to keep smiling.”

The police officers have reasons to be tired; after government unrest and a takeover of Bangkok’s airports by citizens, I guess this is one of  Thailand’s ways for improving the mood in the country. Hell, maybe the LAPD could improve their image this way.

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About John

I'm a Taiwanese-American and was born & raised in Western Massachusetts, went to college in upstate New York, worked in Connecticut, went to grad school in North Carolina and then moved out to the Bay Area in 1999 and have been living here ever since - love the weather and almost everything about the area (except the high cost of housing...)
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