Eight men sentenced to four years for police cadets’ deaths following bungled parachute jump

snoop1130 · March 8, 2022

Four police officers and four civilians were sentenced to four years in prison today (Tuesday), without suspension, after they were found guilty of gross negligence by the Criminal Court for Corruption and Misconduct Cases Region 7, over the deaths of two police cadets and injuries to three others during a parachute training jump eight years ago.

One police officer was, however, acquitted because he was not responsible for the installation of equipment or supervision of the parachuting training course.

The chutes of the five cadets malfunctioned, causing two of them to plunge to their deaths and three sustaining injures, leaving one of them in a serious condition.

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Full Story: https://www.thaipbsworld.com/eight-men-sentenced-to-four-years-for-police-cadets-deaths-following-bungled-parachute-jump/

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hughrection · March 8, 2022

Checking & health and safety is for mugs here in the Land of Don't give a Fuuuuuu. ????

Doesn't effect me - so why would I care - is what you will hear in all walks of life here. Som nom na as they say in Thailand.

RichardColeman · March 9, 2022

Sentence is way too low. 4 years for the death of one person maybe, but for 2 deaths and multiple injury, should 20 to life

hotchilli · March 9, 2022

39 minutes ago, RichardColeman said:

Sentence is way too low. 4 years for the death of one person maybe, but for 2 deaths and multiple injury, should 20 to life

After 8 years of investigation?

cncltd1973 · March 9, 2022

why are police officers parachuting?

mahtin · March 9, 2022

2 hours ago, cncltd1973 said:

why are police officers parachuting?

Red Bull gives you wings.

mikebell · March 9, 2022

2 hours ago, hotchilli said:

After 8 years of investigation?

Do the police officers keep their pensions and jobs after serving a fraction of the quoted sentences?

OneZero · March 9, 2022

2 hours ago, cncltd1973 said:

why are police officers parachuting?

PARU:The Border Patrol Police Parachute Aerial Resupply Unit (BPP PARU or PARU) is the BPP's special forces unit responsible for training and supporting airborne operations, airborne reinforcement, disaster and accident rescue, and supporting special missions under the command of the BPP.

Operation Paper: The United States and Drugs in Thailand and Burma | The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus (apjjf.org)

Nov 2010. History. Very long article, but for those interested in the countries or subject, very absorbing. Certainly, the author's conclusions /assertions can at times be debated. But the article seems well researched & documented history. Basically, it describes how the OSS/CIA, in order to combat communism, used proxy forces that supported themselves (ie, off the CIA's books) via the drug trade. If McCoy's 1972 "The Politics of Heroin in Southeast Asia" interested you, this serves as a historical postscript.

Quote:

".....drug proceeds helped supplement the CIA’s efforts to develop its own Asian proxy armies, initially defensive but increasingly offensive."

"The OPC and CIA’s initial support of this program, by reestablishing a major drug traffic out of Southeast Asia, helped institutionalize what became a CIA habit of turning to drug-supported off-the-books assets for fighting wars wherever there appeared to be a threat to America’s access to oil and other resources—in Indochina from the 1950s through the 1970s, in Afghanistan and Central America in the 1980s, in Colombia in the 1990s, and again in Afghanistan in 2001.⁷ The use of drug proxies, at odds with Washington’s official antidrug policies, had to remain secret."

Quote:

"Willis Bird organized in 1950 a secret committee of leading military and political figures to develop an anti-communist strategy and, more importantly, lobby the United States for increased military assistance. The group, dubbed the Naresuan Committee, included police strongman Phao Sriyanon........Bird and the generals established their committee to bypass the ambassador and . . . work through [Bird’s] old OSS buddies now employed by the CIA [sic, i.e., OPC].^1"

Quote:

"A high-ranking U.S. military officer and a CIA [OPC] official came to Bangkok [in 1950] to review the political situation.¹¹³ . . . Through the “[Naresuan] Anti-Communist Committee,” secret negotiations ensued between Phao and the CIA [OPC]. The U.S. representative explained the need for a paramilitary force that could both defend Thai borders and cross over into Thailand’s neighbors— Vietnam, Laos, Burma, Cambodia, and China—for secret missions. . . . The CIA’s new police were to be special: an elite force outside the normal chain of command of both the Thai security bureaucracy and the TNPD [Thai National Police department]. Phao & Phibun agreed to this arrangement because of the increase in armed power that this new national police meant vis-à-vis the armed forces.^114"

Today in 2022, Thai newspapers are still filled with stories of the failure to effectively reform the police. However, even if it was to a certain extent true when the author wrote it in 2010, I find the following quote a bit too strong for today 2022:

Quote:

"The police force that exists in Thailand today is for all intents and purposes the same one that was built by Pol. Gen. Phao Sriyanond in the 1950s. . . . It took on paramilitary functions through new special units, including the border police. It ran the drug trade, carried out abductions and killings with impunity, and was used as a political base for Phao and his associates. Successive attempts to reform the police, particularly from the 1970s onwards, have all met with failure despite almost universal acknowledgment that something must be done."

For anybody really interested in further research on the subject and past OSS/CIA personalities/connection to Thailand, you may also want to google Bill Lair, Willis Bird, Jim Thompson (all 3 OSS/CIA) as well as Thais Siddhi Savetsila, Plaek PibulSongkram and Phao Sriyanond.

James William Lair - Wikipedia

oss willis bird - Search (bing.com)

Disappearance of Jim Thompson - Wikipedia

Siddhi Savetsila - Wikipedia

THAILAND: The Inside Man - TIME

plaek pibulsongkram - Google Search

Phao Siyanon - Wikipedia