Thai editorial: Fear of failure is hampering the bombing probe

[webfact]

EDITORIAL
Fear of failure is hampering the bombing probe
The Nation

The blame game being played by the police and the BMA is getting us no closer to finding the culprit behind last week's attack

BANGKOK: -- The investigation into the Erawan Shrine bombing on August 17 has led to a dispute between the police and the city administration.

National police chief General Somyot Poompanmuang has said 15 of the 20 cameras between the Ratchaprasong intersection and Silom Road, the route used by the bomber, were out of order. "The footage jumps from one camera to another, and police are having to use their imagination to fill in the gaps. We are spending precious time connecting the dots," he was quoted as saying.

The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA), which maintains most of the CCTV cameras in question, has rejected the criticism. Of 107 surveillance cameras in the vicinity of the attack, only four were broken, said Vichai Sungprapai, an adviser to the Bangkok governor, on Tuesday. He said that only one of the faulty cameras - at the Ratchaprasong intersection - was on the bomber's suspected path, a fact unlikely to hamper the investigation.

Vichai, himself a retired senior police officer, also pointed out that the four broken cameras should not be blamed for the police's failure to catch the bomber. He suggested that they should be looking for other evidence as well.

It is understandable that the police force, and especially its chief, are feeling pressure to find the culprit responsible for Bangkok's worst-ever bombing attack. More than a week has passed and they have still not been able to identify the culprit's nationality, let alone a name. The BMA seems a convenient target for blame since it operates most of the surveillance cameras around the scene of the attack.

One question being asked is whether the police are focusing too much on the BMA's security cameras. Have they unearthed all the footage from security cameras owned by businesses in the area?

There are also doubts being voiced over whether investigators are doing enough to piece together information from eyewitness accounts in a bid to find the culprit and his accomplices. The police have managed to produce a sketch of the suspect, who is believed to be a foreigner, and an arrest warrant has been issued.

Shortcomings revealed by the investigation suggest it is also time to improve the quality of surveillance cameras operated by state agencies. The quality of the pictures these cameras produce might seem of secondary importance, but the blurry images that have emerged of the suspected bomber demonstrate that clear footage is vital to catching criminals.

Meanwhile, other security cameras around the city should be checked and repaired immediately if found to be faulty. Those that cannot be repaired should be replaced with up-to-date models that can record clear images.

After such a serious lapse in security, agencies involved in public safety must begin cooperating as a unified force. The government has launched a campaign for solidarity following the Bangkok bombing with the motto: "Our home, our country, together stronger". However, the dispute between police and the BMA demonstrates that unity is still lacking.

Blaming one another or seeking scapegoats is not the way to go. Doing so only adds to the impression that these agencies are being driven by a fear of failure and are covering up for their own inefficiency in dealing with this crisis.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/opinion/Fear-of-failure-is-hampering-the-bombing-probe-30267512.html


-- The Nation 2015-08-27

[noitom]

This is typical Thai behavior - the blame game. Thais never take responsibility for their own action. Thais make everyone else responsible for their happiness. It's a Thai cultural thing.

[craigt3365]

I think cleaning up the crime scene so quickly was a mistake. As has been pointed out, a lot of evidence was found after the cleaning. A rush to appease the tourists????

[Briggsy]

What bombing? There was no bombing. Silence. Blank look. Topic now taboo, forgotten and swept under the carpet.

You like Thai food? This Tom Yam Kung, snigger, you know. Foreigner all like Tom Yam Kung. I pay lunch for you, ok?

[trainman34014]

They know failure only too well....so why do they fear more of it ?

[Srikcir]

Sad to say but maybe there will be another bombing and the police will better handle the investigation, maybe actually apprehend a suspect.

[tuanku]

A 2013 survey by the anti-corruption group Transparency International found that 71% of respondents judged the police as corrupt or extremely corrupt, edging out political parties with 68% as the most corrupt institution.

An Executive Opinion Survey published in the latest Global Competitiveness Report of the World Economic Forum likewise ranked Thailand 113th out of 144 economies in a ranking of the perceived reliability of police services — the extent to which they can be relied upon to enforce law and order.

"In Thailand's most sensational crimes, the prime suspects are often the police," was the pithy judgment of The Economist magazine in 2008.

The military-led government has promised to clean up the police force, but in the bombing case it may be steering investigators away from one potentially damaging theory, said Jomdet Trimek, a professor of criminology at Bangkok's Rangsit University and a former police officer.

Early leaks from the police suggested that militant Muslims from China's Uighur minority were suspects, seeking to avenge Thailand's forced repatriation in July of more than a hundred Uighurs who had fled their homeland. Thai authorities later discounted possible international terrorism links, though the arrest warrant for the still-unidentified main suspect describes him as a "foreign man" and the police chief said Monday that no theory has been ruled out.

The shrine where the bomb exploded is a magnet for Chinese tourists, and at least six of the dead were from mainland China and Hong Kong. If the attack was payback for Thailand's handling of Uighur migrants, it would cast blame on the junta for providing a pretext for the bombing and would scare away Chinese visitors, now a major component of the country's lucrative tourism industry.

"If the real motive of this act of terrorism is a matter relating to Uighurs," Jomdet said in an email interview, "I believe the government will not disclose it."

Jomdet said the haste with which the crime scene was cleaned up suggests a rush to restore public confidence, possibly at the expense of collecting more evidence. The area was hosed down less than 24 hours after the blast, and the bomb crater was patched over in less than 48.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/ct-bangkok-bombing-probe-20150825-story.html

[allan michaud]

They have no one to blame but themselves, the fact the Police Chief called for foreign countries to supply fictitious software (to improve blurry footage) that only exists in Hollywood (CSI) doesn't exactly inspire confidence. When the PM advises the RTP to watch Blue Bloods to help with their investigation is also doesn't inspire confidence in their ability to solve this case.

Half the problem is the top ranking officials appear to know absolutely nothing about police techniques yet they drive investigations and are always the ones to speak to the media, rather than putting up a real CSI person or investigator (I assume they do have them, Pornthip?) to explain issues rather than some self important idiot who just wants to get on television.

[PatOngo]

I think cleaning up the crime scene so quickly was a mistake. As has been pointed out, a lot of evidence was found after the cleaning. A rush to appease the tourists????

No, a rush to appease the greedy!

[Emster23]

Seems more afraid of "Pin the tail on the donkey". Lots of energy seems to be spent on passing the buck, the hot potato, hoping some other schmuck will get stuck with responsibility. I say it was a group effort failure of all parties that failed their jobs, if they even knew what their jobs were supposed to entail. "Mai pen rai". They have run out of ideas seems plain to see. Didn't have that many to begin with, however.... Time for reruns.

[ALLSEEINGEYE]

the only thing the BIB are efficient at is lying and that can't even do that well.Seriously, fire them all and start over. They are beyond useless.

[Acharn]

I think cleaning up the crime scene so quickly was a mistake. As has been pointed out, a lot of evidence was found after the cleaning. A rush to appease the tourists????

I remember when Dr. Pornthip was first exploding onto the scene. Here was this flamboyant woman with her punk rocker red hair and multiple medical and scientific degrees demanding that the whole criminal justice system be brought into the 20th Century. I thought she was hot, too. It caused a lot of resentment among the patriarchal Thai ranking officers. I think they would rather exclude all forensic evidence, even though the evidence from EOD specialists shouldn't be hard to accept. It does seem like a diversion to be blaming the CCTV cameras. It isn't so many years since there weren't any at all, but police then sometimes caught people.

[bino]

15 of the 20 cameras between the Ratchaprasong intersection and Silom Road, the route used by the bomber, were out of order.

They probably have not been repaired since the street protests in 2010 when the Reds "de-activated" them to keep the prying eyes out of their camp.

[DrTuner]

Pass the face loss, would ya? And then we can move on to waiting people forget. Discover Thainess.

[Langsuan Man]

Most disheartening thing is that if this had been a lese majeste case it would have been solved in a heart beat

[lostoday]

What agency has final responsibility for the bombing probe? The Defense ministry?

[willyumiii]

Fear of failure??

Ten days have past and they still have no clue.

They have failed already!

Why are they still "connecting the dots" on video of where this guy was ten days ago?

Where and who is he today?

Where's Waldo?

[spidermike007]

Under these circumstances I would trust the word of the BMA over the RTP, with near absolute certainty. It is abundantly clear little the RTP says can be considered as truth.

[gigman]

Upon the time there was no cameras and somehow uncorrupted police was able to do amazing jobs. ...but not in Thailand.

[lostoday]

Upon the time there was no cameras and somehow uncorrupted police was able to do amazing jobs. ...but not in Thailand.

They still don't know who Jack the Ripper was now do they?