Bangkok Police Corrupt: Study

[stumonster]

Bangkok police corrupt: study

From correspondents in Bangkok

November 06, 2004

FROM senior officers to cops on the streets, the police force in Thailand's capital is riddled with corruption, says a study cited by newspapers Saturday.

Low pay, unfair promotion policies and a system that allows corrupt policemen to go unpunished were cited as key reasons for the endemic corruption, the study by three academic researchers said.

Reports on the study, which was presented at a seminar yesterday, were carried by the Bangkok Post and other local newspapers.

The researchers, who conducted interviews at five of Bangkok's 88 police stations, found "corruption deeply entrenched from the bottom ranks to the top and in every section of each station - administration, prevention and suppression, crime detection, investigation and traffic."

Those on the crime prevention and suppression beats cultivated "gray businesses" such as entertainment outlets opening beyond legal hours and shops selling pirated goods, demanding tea money to turn a blind eye, it said.

Crime detection police got their extra income from gambling dens, illegal lottery operations and places of prostitution with some gambling operators having to pay police station chiefs up to 3 million baht a month.

Police investigators might, for example, cover up the facts of a traffic accident and allow wrong-doers to go free - if they paid up. Administration officers cheated on over-time, petrol and procurement budgets and demanded kickbacks for various permits.

"Illegal businesses are willing to pay police because that costs them less than making their business legal, while some are not allowed at all under the law," one of the researchers, Natthanan Wijit-aksorn, said.

The government has admitted that serious corruption exists within the police force nationwide but attempts at reform have proved difficult and slow.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/commo...55E1702,00.html

I would believe this except mr T stamped out corruption in his 30 day war.

[udon]

Royal Thai Police corrupt, never, who wrote those bloody lies? lol

[snoophound]

Pretty easy

Death sentence for corrupt police???

Hmm Thaksins friends and sponsors wouldnt like that!

[udon]

Taksin, an ex-copper.

I wonder how he got his grubstake to eventually become a billionaire?

Yes, you guessed right.

[Tornado]

shock

[xbusman]

I smell a Pulitzer or even perhaps a Nobel for ripping the cover off this one. Talk about investigative insight!

They must get frustrated at the Nation, I mean think about it, just exactly how do you get through to the average reader about the clandestine mafiaso so adroitely siphoning off the coffers. The complexity and persuasive nature of the mass of graft at the top leaves me numb at times, its no wonder most Thai's just shrug their shoulders. Perhaps this approach is more real to day to day experience.

[dr_Pat_Pong]

shock 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Crime doesn't pay ... but the hours are good

[thaigene2]

Yes, shock - horror. It's the Status Quo. Ever notice how all the real news gets reported in the B Post and Nation. Thai Rath and the other Thai papers probably ignored this, or shoe-horned it into about four centimeters between a lovely half-naked babe and a photo of some mutilated corpse.

The fact is most Thais DON'T CARE. They know many of the big politicians, police and army establishments are corrupt. They know Fearless Leader is a cop turned billionaire and placed his assets in his maid's bank account, or wherever. They DON'T CARE..They even ADMIRE these guys. Which kinda raises the question if they don't care, why should we?? It's not just the police force..it's deeply rooted in East Asian society. It the way social structures have operated for thousands of years..buying favours, doing deals we would call "dirty".

Even if you proved Thaksin was the most corrupt man in the Kingdom, he'd still win the next election by a landslide, and he'll probably share the podium with the head of the police force. Despite Michael Moore's unveiling of the Bush joke Americans didn't care either when they went to the polls..One to ponder, isn't it? So little faith in humanity..I know.

[phormio]

... It's not just the police force..it's deeply rooted in East Asian society. It the way social structures have operated for thousands of years..buying favours, doing deals we would call "dirty".

... Despite Michael Moore's unveiling of the Bush joke Americans didn't care either when they went to the polls..One to ponder, isn't it? So little faith in humanity..I know.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It's not just East Asian Society, after all we've seen in the preceding 20 years, the US is leader of the pack(as per your allusion).

That's all I have to say about that

[stroll]

The article 'forgot' to mention drugs. Small scale yaba dealers arrested and then set up to continue their trade, under pressure to make a target number of sales on a commission basis, and grass up a proportion of customers. They have several such operations in any district, and the low performing dealers are arrested again and turned over to the cause of justice.

I am not joking.