Police transfers: Do they really solve the problem?

21 มีนาคม 2559

Do police transfers & secrecy in handling police misconduct cases really solve the problem? Last week's Mercedes accident case once again raises this question.

POLICE REFORM

Little public faith in police integrity, despite police transfers

21/03/2016
Veera Prateepchaikul

Police operations centres are graveyards for unwanted police officers accused of malfeasance, corruption, negligence of duty and so on.

These officers are transferred to the centres by their bosses pending investigations into the accusations.

In other words, these rogue officers have no work to do, but they still get paid.

POLICE TRANSFERS: SOLUTION TO POLICE MISCONDUCT?

It is not known how many police officers have been transferred to these police operations centres and how many of them have been moved out after their investigations.

The big questions are: Are these transfers the solution to the problem of police misconduct or are they only cosmetic?

And the most important question of them all: when will the police get much-needed police reform?

Even when a case seems obvious, such as last week's two-death crash in Ayutthaya, the chain of justice from policeman to final court verdict can be long and confusing. (File photo)

LAST WEEK'S HIGH PROFILE CASE

In last week's high-profile case, two students were killed after their car was rammed from behind by the Mercedes and caught fire.

Transfers of local police were made immediately.

[Details: The Phra-in Racha district police superintendent in Ayutthaya province, Pol Col Pongpat Suksawat, and his deputy, Pol Lt-Col Somsak Polpankhang, were moved to the operations centre at the First Region Provincial Police Bureau for 15 days for their mishandling of a fatal car accident involving a Mercedes-Benz sports car and a Ford sedan.]

STRAIGHTFORWARD TEXTBOOK CASE

The Phra-in Racha fatal accident case is actually a straightforward textbook case.

What the police in the district should have done is:

1. Find out whether the driver of the Mercedes, Janepob Veeraporn, a luxury car importer, was drunk or under the influence of any medication while driving, and...

2. How fast he was driving.

Instead, the police did nothing.

The police claimed the driver refused to have his blood tested for alcohol or other medication while being treated at Bang Pa-in district hospital.

It was about three days afterward when the two police officers started to feel the intense heat (feel pressure) from social media and their boss that they started to act by questioning Mr Janpob at Samitivej Hospital.

INFLUENTIAL FIGURES ASKING FOR A FAVOUR?

The general impression now is the two Phra-in Racha police were at fault for failing to do their simple job properly.

Is this true?

How can we be sure that they were not told by their boss to go easy on the case because somebody who knows somebody in the police force might have asked for a favour in the handling of this case?

PRESSURE FROM SOCIAL MEDIA

At least for the time being police appear to be more serious in pursuing the case against the Mercedes driver, thanks to pressure from social media.

It should also be noted the cremation rites of the two accident victims were royally sponsored as a special case.

WILL CULPRIT FACE THE CONSEQUENCES?

But there is still a long way to go before the case is judged by a court of law.

How the case will proceed and how the judges will deliver their verdict depends on how the case is handled by the police and the prosecutor.

Despite all the hype from the police bosses that justice will prevail and the culprit will face consequences, we have no idea of how the case is being handled, first by the police and then by the prosecutor, until the court trial when the truth will come out.

In short, there is little or no transparency or accountability in the criminal justice system.

CASE STUDY: SHODDY POLICEWORK

The following is a case study of the consequence of a crime which was shoddily processed by the police and the prosecution in a manner which put into question their professionalism and honesty.

The case concerns three followers of the red-shirt movement charged with opening fire at an army helicopter during the anti-government protests by the red shirts in 2010.

The three defendants were acquitted by Phra Khanong court, a decision upheld by both the Appeals and Supreme courts.

What is interesting about the case is the Supreme Court's verdict delivered on March 14 which shows unbelievable "loopholes" in the case. An extract of the court's verdict reads as follows:

"In reference to the court of first instance's verdict on Aug 26, 2011, the raiding party found weapons in the house but there was no report of the seizure of the weapons to the Emergency Directorate. No details of the items seized from the house were shown in the search warrant.

"Although more than 20 pictures were taken of the seized weapons found hidden in the sewers, they were not submitted to the inquiry officers and there were no golf bag or black plastic bags which are key evidence.

"Therefore, it is questionable why the officials concerned did not hand over this evidence to the inquiry officers for use in the case, which was suspicious. Although the prosecution has witnesses who claimed to have seen the defendants fire upon the helicopter, the prosecution did not have any evidence to show to the court that the defendants had weapons in their possession.

"The prosecution evidence is doubtful, hence the defendants deserve the benefit of the doubt and are acquitted."

Veera Prateepchaikul is a former editor, Bangkok Post.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/904472/despite-transfers-there-is-little-faith-in-police-integrity