Police reshuffle mistakes: Dead police chief transferred

6% of promotions & demotions in error after national police chief oversees reshuffle for first time in 10 years.

POLICE REFORM

Police reshuffle mistakes: Dead police chief transferred

2/06/2016
Post Reporters

The annual police reshuffle announced on Tuesday contained mistakes (factual errors).

National police chief Chakthip Chaijinda promised to carry out a probe into how the mistakes occurred on Wednesday. 

MOST EMBARASSING MISTAKE

The national police chief was responding to mounting public criticism of some of the embarrassing mistakes picked up and reported by the media.

It was reported, for instance, that the name of Pol Maj Gen Wanat Atthakawin, commander of Provincial Police Region 3, appeared at No.500 on the list but his police rank was downgraded to "Pol Col" and his position was downgraded to a deputy Nakhon Ratchasima provincial police chief.

The reshuffle list then said he was promoted to become a deputy chief of the investigation division of Provincial Police Region 3.

ALREADY DEAD BUT STILL BEING RESHUFFLED

Worse still, at No.613 on the reshuffle list, Pol Col Somkiat Yuwadi, the former head of Mai Riang police station in Nakhon Si Thammarat was announced as the new chief at Khanom police station in the same province.

He has been dead since 2013.

6% OF RESHUFFLE IN ERROR

Pol Gen Chakthip confirmed the mistakes occurred and about 6% of the entries made on the list were made in error.

He blamed the fiasco partly on the fact the reshuffle was carried out in a new manner.

It was the first time in more than a decade that the annual reshuffle was handled by the Royal Thai Police's central administration office.

For the first time, the reshuffle was overseen by the the national police chief himself.

This was in line with instructions laid down by the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) chief under Section 44 of the interim charter.

NORMALLY DONE IN DECENTRALISED FASHION AT DIVISION LEVEL

Normally, each police bureau and division is responsible for preparing and proposing its own reshuffle list.

But this time, only the National Police Chief and a handful of trusted assistants handled the job which took only one month and five days as required by the NCPO.

It was impossible to get more people to deal with the reshuffle list because not everyone can be trusted and assigned to do it.

THANKS TO MEDIA FOR CHECKING HIS WORK

Pol Gen Chakthip thanked media outlets for their contribution in trying to verify the reshuffle list and reporting the mistakes.

He said his deputies would lead a formal probe into how the mistakes were made and report back their findings in 15 days.

No one will be held responsible for making the mistakes but the findings will be useful in making sure they do not happen again in the next reshuffle.

All the mistakes were being corrected and the revised list was to be made public later Wednesday.

ONLY 488 OUT OF 7,849 INCORRECT

Of all the 7,849 appointments and transfers in the reshuffle, only 488 were incorrect, which equates to 6.2%.

The 488 mistakes included 215 duplicated names, 270 duplicated appointments, one officer's demotion, one appointment of an unqualified person and one transfer of a dead policeman.

The mistakes stemmed from an inaccurate police personnel database system.

The database was to be completely updated and corrected by Wednesday.

It is reportedly impossible to demote anyone in the system.  

Pol Maj Gen Piyaphan said he believed the litany of mistakes would not sully the reputation of the police force.

Senior police officials affected by the errors would fully understand that mistakes can occur.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/security/998233/police-reshuffle-list-mistakes-prompt-probe

สามารถฝึกอ่านออกเสียงและดูคำแปลได้ที่ : http://www.bangkokpost.com/learning/learning-from-news/999249/police-reshuffle-mistakes-dead-police-chief-transferred