Perils of police reform

I’m glad that PM Prayut Chan-o-cha is reforming the police at long last, but he shouldn’t reinvent the wheel. In 2006, thenprime minister Gen Surayud Chulanont, former army chief and member of our beloved King Rama IX’s Privy Council, appointed retired Pol Gen Vasit Dejkunjorn, former chief of police, to head a distinguished commission for this very purpose.

This commission was to develop a police organisation which was “transparent, accountable, responsible and modernised ... integrated within the whole justice process ... (which) with decentralisation ... will be able to serve the people more efficiently, equally and fairly, and will be more credible and trusted” as pointed out Krisanaphong Poothakool and Tony Glendinning, in their article “Police Reform in Thailand Post2006”, published in 2013 in the International Journal of Criminology and Sociology.

With Gen Surayud’s extremely exalted position of trust in the armed forces and the Privy Council, and that of Pol Gen Vasit in the police, and the terms of reference which assuredly had been vetted by Gen Surayud, there is every reason to update and accept the recommendations of the Pol Gen Vasit Commission, rather than start from scratch.

For continuity, the new commission should be chaired by a nominee of Pol Gen Vasit, or, if he would honour us, by the general himself.

If the above is done, then we can soon benefit from Gen Vasit’s 2006-2007 recommendations, updated, eg, decentralising the RTP, public participation in police policysetting, monitoring of police performance and relations with the public, transfer of non-police functions to other state agencies, a central investigative directorate, and reorganised station operations to be more autonomous, problem-focused, and community-centered, with more representative local boards.

PM Prayut, your esteemed predecessor, Gen Surayud, has done most of your police reform work for you, if you would but allow him to help you. BURIN KANTABUTRA grave danger of joining the likes of Jatupat Boonpattararaksa (Pai Dao Din) in prison without bail.

Is having Thai Buddhism overseen by Thai politicians the solution or the problem?

FELIX QUI