POLICE REFORM PROCESS GOALS : Jarun: Downsizing, focus on honesty needed

POLICE REFORM PROCESS GOALS : Jarun: Downsizing, focus on honesty needed.

MANOP THIP-OSOD

Police reform must make the police force leaner and officers less inclined to indulge in materialism while other justice-related branches must also be streamlined, reformers said yesterday. Justice permanent-secretary Jarun Pukditanakul, a member of a police reform committee, said meaningful reform should involve downsizing the police force and emphasising the role of police as peacekeepers who are also honest.

''Their attitude towards materialism and misconduct must be corrected as it is the reason the police increasingly stray out of line,'' Mr Jarun told a seminar on police reform at Chulalongkorn University.

However, Mr Jarun noted the fact that almost 200,000 non-commissioned policemen are underpaid and unrecognised in their own organisation despite the huge enforcement power at their disposal, and this could be what turns them into ''starving tigers''.

For them, Mr Jarun said, to be non-commissioned police officers means they are often unappreciated by those with higher ranks.

Low self-esteem can surprisingly create a sense of inferiority, he added.

''When dignity is down, [one's self] worth can get incredibly low. All it needs is a twenty-baht banknote to take care of traffic violations,'' he said.

Mr Jarun proposed that all non-commissioned ranks in the police force should be scrapped except senior sergeant- majors who should have a reasonable pay rise offered to them.

According to Sangsit Piriyarangsan, another police reform committee member, his committee will complete the draft of the new police structure in three months. By the middle of the year, the restructuring plan will be concluded.

''But it's not only the police who need to be revamped. The Department of Special Investigation needs to be improved as well. The justice system can't remain the same forever.

''So, improvement is necessary,'' he said at the seminar.

To restructure the police force, the administrative system at the police station level must be revamped. Policemen should no longer think of their organisation as an armed force, but rather a part of the judicial system, which includes the prosecutor and the court, Mr Sangsit said.

The new police structure should be able to block interference from politicians who have often been known to exert influence over police reshuffles.

Former senator Kraisak Choonhavan said injustice has permeated all units of Thailand's judicial system.

''We should also seek assistance from the international community,'' he said. He suggested that Thailand should become a member of the International Criminal Court to benefit from the organisation's input on ways to improve the country's judicial system.

Jutharat Ua-amnuay, a political scientist at Chulalongkorn University, said the police force was not yet ready to be ''divided'' up into provincial units overseen by their respective provincial administrative offices.

Bangkok Post
Friday January 12, 2007