Traffic police are facing a reoccuring headache as civilians keep turning the cameras installed on police dummies, or Jah Choey, to face random directions, instead of towards the high-traffic intersections they are intended to monitor. Sometimes, hooligans are even shifting the cameras to face the statues themselves.
The cameras are supposed to assist police by capturing the license plate numbers of traffic law violators. Police instead wind up with more work: In addition to their regular duties, they must also check on Jah Choey statues everyday to prevent people from messing with them.
JS 100 Radio reported that the statue in Din Daeng has elicited the most harassment, forcing traffic police to fix it to a default position. The surveillance version of Jah Choey was rolled out to 10 of Bangkok’s busiest roads late last year in the hopes of reducing reckless driving.
