Phuket Opinion: New top cop staying tough on drugs

[Lite Beer]

Phuket Opinion: New top cop staying tough on drugs
Phuket Gazette -

Phuket Provincial Police Commander Ong-art Phiwruangnont plans to stamp out drugs on the island. Photo: Saran Mitrarat

The new Phuket Provincial Police Commander, Ong-art Phiwruangnont, 59, is from Yasothon. He graduated from the Royal Police Cadet Academy and has spent his entire career in the police force. Before coming to Phuket, Maj Gen Ong-art was Provincial Police Commander in Nakhon Ratchasima.

Here he talks about why his priority is eradicating drugs from Phuket, and why gambling should be legalized.

PHUKET: When I arrived in Phuket, I saw the most beautiful vistas I’ve ever seen – the gorgeous beaches here. Phuket is a world-famous tourist destination because of these beaches, and generates a lot of income for Thailand through tourism. That’s why the first thing I’ll do is focus on tourist safety.

During the year that I’ll be working on Phuket before I retire, my first priority will be to improve safety for tourists and locals, and the way to do that is to focus on illegal drugs.

I hate drugs; I have absolutely zero tolerance for them, and I’m not willing to negotiate at all when it comes to drug cases.

A lot of drug dealers have met their end because of me, either because I shot them during a raid or because after they were arrested and tried, they were sentenced to death by a judge.

Drugs cause all kinds of problems. To start with, they affect the emotions and behavior of the people who use them, never in a good way. Drug-users either turn to crime or become lazy. If they hold jobs and are lazy, they are apt to deliver poor service, which can adversely affect the business they work in, and by extension, the economy.

Drugs are also one of the causes of corruption within the police force – for example, when officers take under-the-table money from dealers. Corruption of all kinds slows down development, which also affects the economy.
So getting rids of drugs has all sorts of important repercussions.

In terms of corruption, another thing that’s important is to provide officers with a good role model. I will be the role model of a non-corrupt officer for all the police in Phuket.

To do that, I need to get in touch with all the officers on the island. I intend to visit every officer in Phuket, both low and high-ranking, so that they can get to know me.

As you might imagine, lower-ranking officers tend to feel awkward talking with higher-ranking officers. I don’t want Phuket police to feel this way. We are all working together, and if someone is a straight cop, he is worthy of my respect, regardless of his rank.

While I won’t compromise whatsoever when it comes to drugs, there are some issues which I can be flexible about. These tend to be aspects of local culture that are deeply entrenched, and in these cases I think it’s up to me to adapt. One example is gambling. I know that there are a lot of illegal lotteries in Phuket, but they’ve been going on so long that I don’t think I can put an end to them.

That doesn’t mean it’s now okay for illegal lotteries to open public shops, just that they should be discrete as usual. If they are not, police will have to make arrests.

I actually think it could be beneficial to open some casinos in Thailand. The times I’ve visited neighboring countries, I’ve seen a lot of Thai people in their casinos. The way I see it, gambling is an accepted activity in many places – a normal part of life. In a way it doesn’t really seem fair that other countries have casinos but we don’t.

If gambling were legalized here, and properly regulated, it could generate a lot of income for us. Of course, we’d have to ensure that people didn’t cheat, and didn’t run off when they owed debts. And players would have to show self-control.

To my mind, gambling is different from drugs or corruption. Drugs affect peoples’ physical and psychological health, and along with corruption cause trouble for other people. Gambling is not like that. Also, gambling can be controlled.

Nevertheless, right now only legal lotteries are permitted in Thailand, and we must abide by the law.

My overall goal in Phuket is to create a place where law-abiding people feel happy to live, and where criminals do not.

Source: http://www.phuketgazette.net/phuket_news/2013/Phuket-Opinion-New-top-cop-staying-tough-on-drugs-22534.html

-- Phuket Gazette 2013-10-20

[IrishIvan]

Id like to know how many people this bloke has shot in raids

[Guest]

Id like to know how many people this bloke has shot in raids

I hope many.

I must say I like what the cop says. Hopefully he also delivers .

[Tatsujin]

That doesn’t mean it’s now okay for illegal lotteries to open public shops, just that they should be discrete as usual. If they are not, police will have to make arrests.

And this sentence sums it up completely. It's ok to break the law and do illegal things, just do it under the radar and pay the "fines" to keep operating. So no real change then despite the words.

[clockman]

Til i see police being arrested and jailed, he will be just the same as any other! so called police.

[frankwhite]

Always talk never action

Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[fasteddie]

What a Neanderthal! roll on his retirement.

[fasteddie]

That doesn’t mean it’s now okay for illegal lotteries to open public shops, just that they should be discrete as usual. If they are not, police will have to make arrests.

And this sentence sums it up completely. It's ok to break the law and do illegal things, just do it under the radar and pay the "fines" to keep operating. So no real change then despite the words.

This cop is a total idiot! gambling causes many more people problems than most drugs.

[Carrerakiss]

I've read about the results of his crackdown on drugs. Ladies being looked up for having minuscule amounts of something or other. Luckily, this guy wasn't the arresting officer or they may have been shot given that so many dealers have met their demise at his hands.

I wonder why he was given the job a year before retirement? Every corrupt cop and criminal knows they only have to put up with him for a year before someone else takes over.

In other news, where did he get that rug? Whoever sold it to him is the one who should be shot.

[Frank James]

Really interesting attitude toward gambling, expressed by this "top cop." Gambling addiction is just as destructive as drug addiction (depends on the drug, of course). I have found that gambling is very pervasive here in Thailand. There seem to be as many or more people playing in "private lotteries", all based on outcome of the legal lottery, as those who buy tickets for the legal one. They are allowed to run a tab, i.e. call in their numbers without paying on the spot, and then having to scramble to pay up before getting a visit from a collection crew. And from what he says in this interview, the "top cop" is OK with this, and yet he brags about having shot a lot of drug-involved people. A curious double standard on display here.

There are also many illegal "casinos", in any Thai city, where punters waste their money day and night on all manner of rigged games. From my personal experience, it is nearly impossible to make someone who is in the grip of gambling fever to understand that the house is the only winner. Meyer Lansky, who knew more about gambling than anyone who ever lived, always counseled people he cared about never to gamble.

I suppose the people who run this country look at Macau and Vegas and think, hmmmm, that could be US, right here. And it would bring in a lot of money, and a lot of the "quality tourists" the govt. keeps salivating over. But first, count the cost.

[Emdog]

Personally, I always had a hard time staying tough on drugs. I just wanted to put on some headphones and listen to Hendrix.

[Benmart]

That doesnt mean its now okay for illegal lotteries to open public shops, just that they should be discrete as usual. If they are not, police will have to make arrests.

And this sentence sums it up completely. It's ok to break the law and do illegal things, just do it under the radar and pay the "fines" to keep operating. So no real change then despite the words.

My crystal ball is in the shop for repair. Can I borrow yours? Thanks.

[Benmart]

I've read about the results of his crackdown on drugs. Ladies being looked up for having minuscule amounts of something or other. Luckily, this guy wasn't the arresting officer or they may have been shot given that so many dealers have met their demise at his hands.

I wonder why he was given the job a year before retirement? Every corrupt cop and criminal knows they only have to put up with him for a year before someone else takes over.

In other news, where did he get that rug? Whoever sold it to him is the one who should be shot.

His hairpiece is of no consequence to me. I've met plenty of folks with full, natural locks, who were ineffective leaders and a boil on the backside of humanity.

Live and let live.

[Ulic]

That comb over is almost as good as "The Donald"

[Halion]

Tough on drugs eh ! He should fit in well with his new subordinates. Phuket police have been one drug or another for as long as I can remember.

[IrishIvan]

A casino in Phuket is a great idea, they should just do what Singapore has done. Charge 100Sing dollars to get in that way the degenerate gamblers cant afford to get in

Edited October 21, 2013 by IrishIvan

[pomchop]

one year until he retires? so the tuk tuk and taxi mafia may need to raise their prices from current TEN TIMES as much as Bangkok to TWENTY times in order to properly fund said retirement....and of course NONE of them would ever be involved in yaba would they?

This guy sounds like he places no distintinction between yaba and ganja....two very very very different drugs....so what's he going to do shoot any tourists found smoking a joint...that'll teach em and make for more good headlines around the world......

[Tatsujin]

That doesnt mean its now okay for illegal lotteries to open public shops, just that they should be discrete as usual. If they are not, police will have to make arrests.

And this sentence sums it up completely. It's ok to break the law and do illegal things, just do it under the radar and pay the "fines" to keep operating. So no real change then despite the words.

My crystal ball is in the shop for repair. Can I borrow yours? Thanks.

No need for a crystal ball, history tells us everything we need to know. Not a lot changes here despite all the words spoken. And most importantly, whatever they may say to the contrary, they don't really want it to change either.

[xylophone]

That doesnt mean its now okay for illegal lotteries to open public shops, just that they should be discrete as usual. If they are not, police will have to make arrests.

And this sentence sums it up completely. It's ok to break the law and do illegal things, just do it under the radar and pay the "fines" to keep operating. So no real change then despite the words.

My crystal ball is in the shop for repair. Can I borrow yours? Thanks.

No need for a crystal ball, history tells us everything we need to know. Not a lot changes here despite all the words spoken. And most importantly, whatever they may say to the contrary, they don't really want it to change either.

Of course they don't want it to change...........it's where they get their income from and it's this guys last chance at the "pot of gold" that is Phuket.

[timewilltell]

I'd like to be optimistic but having lived in Phuket for the last ten years my optimism has been squashed. I am sure the paid for his position and I am equally sure he will recover his 'investment' just the same as the governor, mayor, Puu Yai's and Or Bor Jor's and all the rest of the people who pay for their 'appointments' or 'elections' have always done.

It is the Thai-Chinese way!