Police group opposed to radical restructure

Former police spokesman Ajiravid Subarnbhesaj, left, former deputy police chief Salang Bunnag, centre, and former police chief Pracha Promnok discuss strategies with colleagues yesterday against a government bill to reform the national police.

Serving and retired senior police officers yesterday voiced strong opposition to a government-sponsored bill aimed at radically restructuring the Royal Thai Police (RTP), saying the move was impractical, unrealistic and discouraging to members of the force.

Wisut Kittiwat, head of the Police Officers' Association, said such a drastic change needed approval by all police officers, and much more time for thorough scrutiny and consideration, before taking effect.

The strongest opposition was to the proposed setting up of 19-member Police Policy Commission headed by a civilian and with the police chief as the sole representative of the force.

Former police chief Sawas Amornwiwat, who chaired the association's meeting at the RTP Club yesterday, said the proposal to decentralise police power by having directors-general for each of the nine Provincial Police Regions would result in disciplinary problems for all police officers.

He said a proposal to raise salaries and promote more than 40,000 non-commissioned police officers to minimise the chances of them becoming corrupt was unrealistic. He also said that the junta-installed government, as political etiquette, should not have made such an important decision.

Former police chief Poj Bunyachinda said he doubted the drafters of the bill understood how dangerous police work was, and how hard-working and dedicated its officers were. "Don't let a few bad policemen distort your view of all police officers," he said.

Another former police chief, Porn-sak Durongkhavibul, said it would be impossible to prevent the RTP from being subject to political interference. "Politi-cians should back off from the RTP," he said.

Former police spokesman Ajiravid Subarnbhesaj said the junta-installed government was not entitled to make such a huge decision, while all police officers were entitled to have their say on a bill that would affect their careers drastically.

He said 99 per cent of police officers have to pay for their own gun; 70 per cent of motorcycles were bought with officers' own money, while 95 per cent of the police's annual budget was allocated for salaries and welfare benefits. "Only five per cent of the available money is for other important things," he added.

Former police major-general Bunjit Phanthumajinda - at 92 the force's oldest retiree - said he was strongly against the bill being approved without heeding police officers' feelings and opinions. Senior Sgt-Major Jatuphorn Thammaphan, the only NCO officer at yesterday's meeting, said the proposal to raise the salaries of 180,000 NCO officers out of a total of 230,000 members of the RTP was financially impossible.

Anan Paengnoy

The Nation