Mass Thai police transfer after Rohinya tragedy surfaces

[NongKhaiKid]

Many posters are suggesting, correctly, that no one of substance will face prosecution which is a great dilemma for the PM, well at least it should be.

As PM he should be worried about the international embarrassment for the country which won't go away easily or be spun away by some insincere words, however as ex-Army chief with the likelihood of so many of his pals involved ... !

What to do, what to do ?

I'm betting the absolute minimum.

[HiSoLowSoNoSo]

These "Concentration camps" show the world again how cruel and greedy Thai males can be. The Vietnamese boat people suffered a similar horrific treatment by Thais when they arrived on these shores after the war ended. Shame on you Thailand.

[Paul944]

Nobody is perfect. Some people just do not care about others well being. Some police and military will not be involved. Moving them to a less favorite place is a start to give a notice. People in the police and army have to realize that if a colleague does bad that will affect their own position as well. Experiments on monkeys has proven the best way to control a group is to punish the whole group if one individual does something bad. Closing your eyes does not take away your responsibility. Still I wonder how people like that can visit a temple without feeling any remorse.

[BSJ]

The Thai's make a big thing of 'face and honour' but for the low life scum in the human trafficking business there can be no 'face or honour'.

As my dad used to say "If you sleep with dogs your bound to get fleas".

[The Deerhunter]

It must be getting a bit crowded at that Royal Thai Police Operation Centre in Bangkok by now

[The Deerhunter]

"they were held responsible for allowing human trafficking to happen in their respective areas of responsibilities."

Seems that being held responsible should be decided in a court of law, if one can be found.... charges that come to mind at least should be "accessory to murder". I imagine one thing that holds the rat's nests together is they all have dirt on each other, so best to go quietly, be imprisoned until attention span shifts, then release back into the fold.

What about being responsible for letting people kill the the unfortunate traffickees.

[impulse]

Under Thai employment law, if a police guy with many years of experience gets terminated with no cause, they're entitled to many months of severance pay.

If they get terminated with cause, they may get nothing. If the cause was criminal in nature, they may end up in the hoosegow.

Before running them off and tossing them into the klink, it seems prudent and fair to figure out whether they deserve one outcome or the other. It's referred to as "due process" where I come from.

It seems that the transfers are very similar to being suspended WITH pay as usually happens in the USA when someone in authority is being investigated. Contrary to what a lot of posters are saying, suspension without pay risks all kinds of legal problems if the investigation exonerates the suspect- so it's usually a suspension with pay until all the evidence comes in.

They're being transferred to inactive posts in the main office in Bangkok, with a very short deadline to present themselves. Seems like a reasonable thing to do if you want to move them somewhere they can't interfere, (and where their superiors and outside players can't intimidate them), observe their actions and interrogate them, and offer them leniency in exchange for giving up the bigger fish.

So far, it all seems reasonable to me. But we'll see...

Edited May 8, 2015 by impulse

[biplanebluey]

Because they aren't fired. They keep their rank and paycheck in exchange for not ratting out the big fish.

Then when the heat dies down all will be back to norm

[jackanapes]

its good to see some movement on this case I am sure heads will roll its obvious somebody knew what was happening and no doubt copped a few bob,

[Oziex1]

Many posters are suggesting, correctly, that no one of substance will face prosecution which is a great dilemma for the PM, well at least it should be.

As PM he should be worried about the international embarrassment for the country which won't go away easily or be spun away by some insincere words, however as ex-Army chief with the likelihood of so many of his pals involved ... !

What to do, what to do ?

I'm betting the absolute minimum.

"As PM he should be worried about the international embarrassment for the country"

Embarrassment, he should show great concern and outrage to the human rights atrocities being committed in his country by his people.

The absolute minimum, yep. So Tier 3 with sanctions is the future of Thailand.

[cumgranosalum]

its good to see some movement on this case I am sure heads will roll its obvious somebody knew what was happening and no doubt copped a few bob,

if heads roll, it will be a first for Thailand in any scandal like this.....

[cumgranosalum]

Under Thai employment law, if a police guy with many years of experience gets terminated with no cause, they're entitled to many months of severance pay.

If they get terminated with cause, they may get nothing. If the cause was criminal in nature, they may end up in the hoosegow.

Before running them off and tossing them into the klink, it seems prudent and fair to figure out whether they deserve one outcome or the other. It's referred to as "due process" where I come from.

It seems that the transfers are very similar to being suspended WITH pay as usually happens in the USA when someone in authority is being investigated. Contrary to what a lot of posters are saying, suspension without pay risks all kinds of legal problems if the investigation exonerates the suspect- so it's usually a suspension with pay until all the evidence comes in.

They're being transferred to inactive posts in the main office in Bangkok, with a very short deadline to present themselves. Seems like a reasonable thing to do if you want to move them somewhere they can't interfere, (and where their superiors and outside players can't intimidate them), observe their actions and interrogate them, and offer them leniency in exchange for giving up the bigger fish.

So far, it all seems reasonable to me. But we'll see...

except that it is following a time honoured tradition in Thailand of shifting people out of the limelight and away from the public eye if they ae caught up in any kind of scandal.....=rather than investigate it is usually an attempt to protect the status quo.

[cumgranosalum]

Under Thai employment law, if a police guy with many years of experience gets terminated with no cause, they're entitled to many months of severance pay.

If they get terminated with cause, they may get nothing. If the cause was criminal in nature, they may end up in the hoosegow.

Before running them off and tossing them into the klink, it seems prudent and fair to figure out whether they deserve one outcome or the other. It's referred to as "due process" where I come from.

It seems that the transfers are very similar to being suspended WITH pay as usually happens in the USA when someone in authority is being investigated. Contrary to what a lot of posters are saying, suspension without pay risks all kinds of legal problems if the investigation exonerates the suspect- so it's usually a suspension with pay until all the evidence comes in.

They're being transferred to inactive posts in the main office in Bangkok, with a very short deadline to present themselves. Seems like a reasonable thing to do if you want to move them somewhere they can't interfere, (and where their superiors and outside players can't intimidate them), observe their actions and interrogate them, and offer them leniency in exchange for giving up the bigger fish.

So far, it all seems reasonable to me. But we'll see...

except that it is following a time honoured tradition in Thailand of shifting people out of the limelight and away from the public eye if they ae caught up in any kind of scandal.....=rather than investigate it is usually an attempt to protect the status quo.

[billd766]

Oh, the irony.

We are all advised to dress properly, when going to immigration, to show respect for Thai officialdom.

When they (the immigration officers) are nothing but common criminals. Just have a look at the carpark at your local immigration office. No way the BMW's and Benz's are paid on a normal salary.

Same goes for the vehicles owned by the police officers and land-office officials.

All corrupt to the core!!

Have you visited ALL the Immigration office in the whole of Thailand? If you have not then how can you write what you did?

In the local Immigration office at Nakhon Sawan where I go (which shares a car park with the central police station) there are NO BMWs or Mercedes Benz parked.

However please don't let small inaccuracies like the truth get in the way of your Thai bashing rant.

Not every Immigration officer or policeman is corrupt in the same way not every poster on TVF tells lies and bashes the Thai people.

[Johnny S]

The World is looking on in disbelieve ....

[Dumbastheycome]

It may be galling but accusation is not proven guilt.Most countries stand down police etc from "active" duty until guilt or innocence is proven. Why is there this knee jerk reaction from so many about instant retribution or determination of guilt? So much like the ignorant " nuke em all ! " rubbish comments about many disputes. I say galling because those that are likely to be found guilty often do remain on full pay. That is an issue hard to get around if you actually support the concept of innocent until proven guilty ........ a basic element of democracy! However those that are found guilty of what in this case is genocidal criminality then the ultimate penalty should be given.

[timewilltell]

This is / was not a small operation. It was investigated by the police before but the police are not the only institution involved. These institutions are run with a chain of command and it is very hard to believe it was all carried out at local level without the nod of more senior people in higher command. I don't think the police are particularly fond of their counterparts and even if senior police wanted to end it they probably would not have much success as the people with muscle would use their contacts to oppose. If you remember the Hannah and David story, when senior police started pointing the finger at 'protected' people's offspring he was summarily removed.

This goes so much deeper and is most unlikely to result in the prosecution of those involved at high level. Those who have so far been transferred are hardly the kingpins one can assume.

Edited May 11, 2015 by timewilltell

[englishoak]

Transfers because they dont want whistle-blowers. Ask how in a region being under full military responsibility for years on and off they could have possibly missed it all this time or why nothing until now has been done since the coup last year ?

Answer... they didnt miss anything and has only been forced to do something now by growing international pressure, all that remains now for Thailand is to limit the fallout not to include some military generals and other influentials etc that are almost certainly involved.

Bad for the image dont you know.