Hua Hin crime rate?

Hua Hin general discussion, observations and chat. Hua Hin topics that don't really fit anywhere else.
lubam
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Hua Hin crime rate?

Post by lubam »

Hi, my wife and I are considering moving to Hua Hin. We have visited Phuket, Bangkok, and Krabi, but haven't been to HH yet. We plan to spend a month there before deciding. I have read a few things about home invasions, robberies, and gun crimes there.. We live in the bay area in California. Those types of crimes do occur where we live, but not enough where we are worried about it on a daily basis. We are just wondering how violent crime rates are there, comparitively speaking. Thanks for any feedback!
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usual suspect
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Post by usual suspect »

Firstly lubam..welcome to the HH forum.. :cheers:
H.H. is quite a safe place IMO,
There has been some issues with violent crime in the past, but when investigated the attacks have been in retaliation to
earlier events between perps & victims.
At the moment H.H. police seem to be on the ball at keeping crime at bay
(This town has a lot of plain-clothes officers keeping tabs on things).
May I suggest you rent a place here for a while to get your own feel of the place...but as a final note..many of the
housing developments can be out of town a bit,,,making you more vunerable to the likes of snatch-thieves after dark
when street-lighting is poor.
lubam
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Re: hua hin crime rate?

Post by lubam »

Thank you so much for the reply.. we appreciate any honest feedback from you guys who have lived there awhile. We plan to rent a place there for about a month. We would definitely prefer a rental that's close to town, as we enjoy walking, rather than relying on transportation. We are a pretty low-profile, boring couple..don't even drink much, so I'm hoping that will help. Neither of us are the type to go looking for trouble, but one concern is how the police would handle an incident where a foreigner had to defend himself.. I understand it's not a first world government, less regulation, etc.. We are good with that, as long as it's not really an issue for day to day living. Thanks again!
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Re: hua hin crime rate?

Post by centermid7 »

usual suspect wrote: At the moment H.H. police seem to be on the ball at keeping crime at bay
555 - that is some funny stuff. These guys don't hit a lick!
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dtaai-maai
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Re: hua hin crime rate?

Post by dtaai-maai »

lubam wrote:We are a pretty low-profile, boring couple...
Me too (but please note I didn't include the drinking comment in the quote... :laugh: ). I've lived and worked in this area for 9 of the 12 years I've been in Thailand and have never had a problem (apart from a cloned debit card, which could have happened anywhere). I've certainly never experienced or witnessed any violence, but I don't often visit the bar areas, and when I do it's usually relatively early.
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Re: hua hin crime rate?

Post by Takiap »

Welcome to the forum.


Hua-Hin is in my opinion a very safe place, and in the overwhelming majority of cases, violent crimes usually only involve Thais.

Other crimes such as burglaries do of course take place, but a lot depends on where about you choose to rent or buy. While I'm sure some expats will disagree with me, my 10+ years of living here has led me to believe that most burglaries take place inside housing developments and in very quiet areas.

Having said that, I stay out toward the airport in a relatively quiet area, and to be honest, I can't remember when last we locked any doors. Our windows and doors are essentially left wide open 24/7, even when there is nobody home, and we've never had any bother. Then again, if someone does come in hoping to steal, the joke will be on them because there is nothing to steal. :thumb: :laugh:


Seriously though, I honestly don't believe you have much to worry about as far as violent crimes are concerned unless you start making enemies with the wrong types of people.


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Re: hua hin crime rate?

Post by Big Boy »

lubam wrote:We are a pretty low-profile, boring couple..don't even drink much, so I'm hoping that will help. Neither of us are the type to go looking for trouble
IMHO you will both be fine. Yes, problems happen (but they happen everywhere). I've never seen anybody go out of their way here to deliberately antagonise other people. As usual suspect says, Hua Hin is relatively safe.
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lubam
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Re: hua hin crime rate?

Post by lubam »

So far, this is all good news for us. The comments about most burglaries occurring in the quiet, out of the way developments, definitely make sense. The same holds true where we live in California, so I guess crime is pretty universal. We appreciate the advice!
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Re: Hua Hin crime rate?

Post by jimmy40 »

Welcome aboard!!!
I have lived here now about 5+ years and these are the things I have seen.
2 Thai's came to our complex tried to do a house invasion on my neighbour, they had a hand gun but the owner thought it looked like a replica kept the door locked and they went away. The next week they were back at the front house near the gate. This time they were let in and stole watches and a small amount of cash. My mate heard a commotion and seen them and chased them. To no avail, these 2 things took part in a fairly out of the way development about 15 minutes out of HH proper. Both houses were owned by farang that own local shops and fly in fly out, so they probably thought easy target. Any other things I have seen are drunks making problems with Thai's late at night and getting the crap belted out of them. And I have seen some lady boys give a bloke a kicking, and the normal laud mouth Germans being as rude as to people. Don't know what happened to them at the end of the night!
So in conclusion if your out of the way, or looking for trouble it will find you. But as you say you don't drink much and live a low life style you will never have a problem. I have moved into a condo in town now and absolutely nothing happens. So kick back enjoy the beach and seafood and the 1 million places to eat and drink you will both be fine :cheers:
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Re: Hua Hin crime rate?

Post by JamesWest »

Hello I am a American living in HH from Los Angeles. Hollywood and Studio City and the West Side. Believe me when I tell you compared to LA or SF there is no street crime in HH. I walk around HH very late at night alone and have never felt in any danger. The complete opposite of LA.

Aside from the extremly dangerous roads and highways, I might say HH is the most safe place you can live in Thailand and still be in a medium size town with some English speaking Thais, hospitals and some average shopping malls and grocery stores that cater to Farangs.

yes home burglaries are a issue. you just have to be low key and lock your place up and get a alarm system with CCTV camera streaming to a remote server. maybe a dog or two. you can find one on the street. no shots required. :)

you can't have a gun. There are no professional security companies. Just guards that sleep all the time and are next to worthless. like all police everywhere, they just show up after the fact to take notes.

the biggest problem i had was the lack of safe deposit boxes at the banks. makes locking up your number one most important item, your passport and visa sort of hard to do. you might buy a big safe.

IT IS REALLY GREAT HERE BUT.

The real issues about HH and Thailand COMPARED TO CA:
Transportation including walking and anything to do with being near a street. Very dangerous every day and it never gets better.
HH UV index. 13-14 Extreme.
Heat. Humidity. Mosquitoes. Can be a downer if you working or playing outside.
Getting sick from the water. Ice cubes and tap water.
Poor emergency response. EMS is slow and about 30 years behind CA.
Extremely high air and water pollution. Like California 50 years ago. offset if you are on the beach front. but on the street forget it.

Over all lack of quality in products and construction. No safety standards.
More and more traffic in HH.
You might have to run your Air Con all night or 24/7, not always good for your health.
Great Thai food but VERY limted restaurant options for Farang food. Expensive and no where near as good as a meal in LA.
HH is a small town. Same people over and over everywhere you go.
HH is a huge step down from living in California (the exceptions to this are housing and medical) but it is super cheap here (as long as you don't try to make it like home, then it is more expensive than CA and a poor copy) and lots of fun. The beach are just average to poor compared to CA. Hospitals are super cheap. On the order of 90% less for emergncy room visits with 5 minute wait times.

say good bye to CA wines and perfect weather and big earthquakes. :)
Few Americans in HH or American quality food. UK, EU and AU mostly. Just the worst American stuff. Fast food places.

Walking into a restaurant and there are the people Navy Seals have been hunting for 15 years. Sort makes you want to be low key about being a American.

Thailand was just under Martial law and now Article 44, but you will be MUCH more free in HH. no police state here like in the USA. No CHP, County Sheriff, State police, SFPD, SWAT teams, helicopters, news media, car chases…
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Re: Hua Hin crime rate?

Post by Homer »

As a native Californian, I gotta agree with most of what JamesWest said.
JamesWest wrote:The real issues about HH and Thailand COMPARED TO CA:
Extremely high air and water pollution.
HH has the cleanest air I've found in a non-rural area in Thailand. A LOT of airborne dust, but the species long since adapted to it.
JamesWest wrote:You might have to run your Air Con all night or 24/7, not always good for your health.
IMHO anyone who runs it 24/7 would have a much better quality of life outside the tropics. Heat adaptation doesn't happen if one lives 24/7 in Air Con environments.
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Re: Hua Hin crime rate?

Post by JamesWest »

JamesWest wrote:You might have to run your Air Con all night or 24/7, not always good for your health.
IMHO anyone who runs it 24/7 would have a much better quality of life outside the tropics. Heat adaptation doesn't happen if one lives 24/7 in Air Con environments.[/quote]

I agree but it is my Thai girlfriend who will not let me turn it off! :) Sort of ironic.
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Re: Hua Hin crime rate?

Post by JamesWest »

something else for my fellow Californians to consider as far as the vibe in HH.

HH is like the Thai version of Orange County or Santa Barbara.
Chiang Mai as a example would be more like Berkley.

While this may not be important to you, I saw a BIG DIFFERENCE in both the Thai people and expats in the two cities. I am not saying the difference is good or bad. I am just pointing it out.
I really like this forum because there are no personal attacks. All the members contribute in a positive way to my posts.
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Re: Hua Hin crime rate?

Post by cookmanchef »

Hi, and welcome.

As a couple you will be much better off living away from the centre, avoid the traffic, fumes and morons!

Also agree about the 'farang compounds' being the most likely places to be targeted for crime, I sold alarms here for a few years and it was always these edge of town housing developments that were the main targets, opportunists mostly, in and out in 3/4 minutes.

Rent a place on the Southern outskirts of the city and explore South towards Sam Roi Yot, in my opinion Pak Nam Pran, Pranburi, Sam Roi Yot will be a much better area for you to live. Only 30 minutes from central HH when you want to go into town for shopping and the beaches are much cleaner and more beautiful.

I lived in Hua Hin for 5 years and now 3 years at Sam Roi Yot, never had any problems at all with crime.
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Re: Hua Hin crime rate?

Post by lubam »

JamesWest, your comparisons to CA are really helpful. I also appreciate your honesty about some of the cons there. I do agree with you about the US becoming a police state.. over-regulated.
cookmanchef, we will definitely check out those areas you mentioned south of HH.
Thanks guys, for all the useful feedback.
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