Police Top The List Of Public Complaints To The Ombudsman

[Jai Dee]

Most complaints to police concern the Ombudsman

The police force tops the list of state agencies facing complaints of unfair treatment lodged by the people with the Ombudsman throughout the past six years.

Sa-ngad Patthawi (สงัด ปัถวี), investigator of the Office of the Ombudsman, said at a seminar on good governance yesterday that the public has complained about the services of police officers the most, followed by the Interior Ministry and the Land Department.

Mr. Sa-ngad said the public mostly complained about officials’ misconducts and delays to take action in solving their problems.

He also said that the people sought help from Office of the Ombudsman to settle problems concerning land encroachment the most in the past two years.

Source: Thai National News Bureau Public Relations Department - 05 July 2006

[Scott]

There is nothing surprising about this story!! But thanks for confirming my suspicions.

[astral]

And what action was taken?

Moving someone to an inactive post, but still on full salary,

is hardly a punishment, or disincentive for others.

[baboon]

Why do so many folks out there have it in for the rozzers?I have never had a problem with them.

[WISteve]

"Why do so many folks out there have it in for the rozzers?I have never had a problem with them."

Then consider yourself lucky.

What grates me is the fact that so many of them are corrupt. I'm accustomed to a relatively graft free small town police force that might turn a blind eye to the mayor's indiscretions, but it does not openly solicit bribes. And even in my small town the local judge just got busted for driving under the influence. When a 500 baht note will get you out of most traffic citations people lose respect for those individuals rather quickly.

Another part of the distrust for me personally is the way they treat other thais. Haven't any of you seen the police set up one of their notorious helmet sweeps and watched while the BIB slap around some poor thai guy that might not respond quickly enough to their requests, or perhaps he doesn't have the right amount of bribe on them at the moment? I find it loathsome when I see the police out on a public street slapping, hitting and shoving some poor thai guy around. It's uncalled for and I can not respect someone who uses their power to publicly humiliate someone.

~WISteve