Thai govt to undergo police reform

[Chris Lawrence]

Creative accounting is one area the new lackies may be lacking in. How to squirrel away excess wealth when you have big week on the horses or big lottery win? Looks better as an entry then being unable to explain.

[KhaoNiaw]

"undergo" but not "undertake" ...

[waldroj]

Education is definitely the key.

They should all be sent to reform school.

[phycokiller]

do the thai police have a duty to help citizens? I cant find any info but I think they are just sworn to protect the king arent they, i could be wrong?

[phycokiller]

Consider that both the RTP and the army are far larger than they need to be, and that the typical member is underpaid. This is not a mistake. It is a well executed strategy. Many other countries do the same thing.

Keep the young men off the street, give them simple jobs, pay them poorly, give them an opportunity to supplement their incomes in a system that rewards upward loyalty.

Reform? My God, that would be a disaster.

yes, i somehow dont think the army went to the trouble of having a coup just cos they wanted change a system thats made many of them extremely wealthy

[hlj]

If the reform is started properly fine that means 3 months of proper training of the laws and enforcement of them. There are no room for corruption or accepting bribe money for any officer

of the law or their supervisors. Put the police on a swing shift 24/7 as done in most all countries. The top to the bottom has to go to this training program for 3 months. There is no one above

the law the system is to be equal for all and to help and protect the public. Their will be yearly raises for the police and promotions when they earn them. The courts also needs reform as

they are the ones who will be receiving and handling the fines from the tickets. It would be easier to sit up a special court for all motor accidents and tickets this would bring in money the

government needs to hire more GOOD people. This is a easy reform it done correctly.

[heybruce]

A seminar about reform. Yeah, that'll fix it.

Transparency in all budget and procurement matters, annual financial disclosures from officers, and elimination of defamation of character laws so the press can report factual information that indicates corruption and incompetence--that is what is needed to keep the police clean. It's not going to happen.

Furthermore the junta will not force real reform because the major illegal activities, such as managing and profiting from every form of smuggling imaginable, took place with involvement of the RTP and the RTA. The police know about the skeletons in the military's closet, and vice versa. That's why partners in crime don't turn on each other.

I suspect there is also the problem of senior people eveerywhere in government still collecting the corruption money needed to pay off the loans they took to buy their positions. The are committed to a corrupt system, they can't afford to be honest.

[willyumiii]

I could be a pretty easy fix.

A lot of the corruption i nthe police force is ,in my opinion, understandable.

Thai police are very underpaid and required to provide much of what they need to do the job, like their uniforms and guns.

Many need "tea money" just to make ends meet.

If the Thai police would only enforce traffic violations and issues citations requiring the offenders to pay fees, it would generate a huge amount of money that could be used to pay the officers a decent wage, pay benefits like medical and retirement and properly equip the force.

A nice side benefit of this would be increased traffic safety.

The money generated from parking violations alone could probably be enough for this.

When I was a child in America, it was common for drivers to keep a folded up fifty dollar bill behind their driver's licence.

When pulled over for speeding or whatever, you would hand your licence over to the officer, with the $50 and he would just give you a warning and return your licence without the $50.

Since officers in America have been being paid a good salary and benefits they know it would be foolish to risk losing a good job for taking any bribes.

In fact, if you try to bribe an officer in America today, he will probably arrest you for attempting to bribe him.

If Thailand really wants a better police force, they need to treat their police officers better.

[Tracyb]

Can they PLEASE start with getting the motorcycles off the sidewalks in Bangkok!

[fusion58]

"Image" is the key word here.

It's always all about "impression management."

[Smarter Than You]

There won't be any reform of the police for one very simple reason.

The police know very well all of the militaries crimes and corruptions against the people and the state.

The police will not stand idly by and give up their share of the cake and allow the military to keep theirs.

Tit for tat will be the order of the day and the result will be both corrupt organisations will lose cashflow.

Reform of the police can only occur after there is reform of the military and for that to occur Thailand must first return to democracy.

[BuriramDevelopers]

The only way is up. Must be a satisfying job to reform this