Police reform: The end?

Separating power to make arrests & interrogate suspects & witnesses prevents abuse of power, but unlikely now that inquiry officer position eliminated.

EDITORIAL

Police reform: The end?

18/02/2016

The recent use of special powers under Section 44 of the interim constitution by the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) to scrap police inquiry officers' positions came as a complete surprise

Even to the inquiry officers themselves who are directly affected didn't see it coming.

SQUASHED ALL ATTEMPTS AT POLICE REFORM? 

The surprise move by the NCPO appears to have squashed all attempts to reform the National Police Office.

This includes a widely-discussed proposal that police inquiry work should be separated from the police and come under a separate unit under the Prime Minister's Office or under an independent organisation.

Vesting the powers to make arrests and conduct inquiries into suspects and witnesses in one centralised police organization has made officers vulnerable to abuse of power.

The two responsibilities should be separated to create a checks and balances mechanism.

The junta's order based on its special powers is typical of a top-down decision-making which is devoid of input from stakeholders, and shows a lack of transparency without considering the consequences for  affected officials.

No reason or explanation was given as to why all the inquiry officers' positions have been eliminated.

POLICE CORRUPTION WIDESPREAD & DEEPLY ENTRENCHED

It is an open secret that police corruption is widespread and deeply entrenched in Thailand's national police force.

And one of the reasons for police corruption is that one highly centralised organisation has been given too many powers.

This one centralised organisation does everything from making arrests, interrogating suspects and witnesses, deciding which evidence to submit, preparing the criminal case and finally making the decision whether to submit the case to prosecutors or drop the charges entirely. In other countries such as Japan and the US the prosecutor is involved to a much greater degree in these activities.

Thailand's police force has always resisted any proposal for reform, including the proposed separation of inquiry work from the main police force, as it would result in its wings being clipped or powers limited.

This is despite the fact such reform would benefit the public in general in that it would better protect them from police abuses.

With the inquiry officers' positions scrapped, it is questionable how the police force will be reformed.

Any reform without the inquiry responsibility being separated from the police force will be meaningless.

POLICE INQUIRY OFFICERS FATE UNCERTAIN

The scrapping of all police inquiry officers' positions has thrown the fate of some 2,500 inquiry officers and another 700 special inquiry officers in doubt with their career path uncertain.

Their monthly stipend averaging 20,000 baht reportedly has been cut to between 5,000-6,000 baht.

On Friday, a few days after the announcement of the controversial order, Pol Lt Col Jan Chaisawasdi, secretary-general of the Confederation of Police Inquiry Officers, was found hanging in the back of his house.

Police insisted he committed suicide but his family doubt the police's suicide assumption.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/868480/police-reform-on-rocks

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