Pubdate: Thu, 06 Dec 2007
Source: Nation, The (Thailand)
Copyright: 2007 Nation Multimedia Group
Contact:  http://www.nationmultimedia.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1963
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?236 (Corruption - Outside U.S.)

PUT POLICE REFORM TOP OF THE AGENDA

A Shake-Up Plan For Thailand's Law-Enforcement Body May Be This 
Govt's Only Chance To Leave A Lasting Legacy

The interim Surayud government made known its intention  to reform 
the Royal Thai Police shortly after it came  to power last year. 
Making police reform a priority  issue is consistent with the 
government's promise to  clean up politics, strengthen the rule of 
law and  reduce corruption. A national committee, comprising  former 
police chiefs, criminal justice experts,  academics and civil rights 
advocates, was set up in  November last year to find ways to revamp 
the 200,000-strong national police force. Since its  formation, the 
committee has produced a blueprint for  police reform complete with 
plans to restructure the  present cumbersome organisational set-up 
and to make  the Royal Thai Police more accountable to the 
public.  The committee's reform proposal has been widely debated  at 
various public forums organised by members of civil  society groups, 
who rightly consider themselves key  stakeholders in this 
long-overdue reform effort.

The proposal seeks to achieve ambitious goals - among  them to 
decentralise the police command structure,  create an effective 
mechanism to monitor and evaluate  police performance, raise 
professional standards,  upgrade working conditions and increase the 
current low  level of remuneration to officers. The main idea behind 
the reforms is to de-politicise the police force and to  eliminate 
the corruption that has long been widespread  among the police rank and file.

There is a consensus among the general public that our  police force 
is in need of a thorough shake-up. The  public perception of the 
police is far from flattering.  In fact, the force is seen as one of 
the most corrupt  among all government agencies. The police force has 
also been subject to manipulation by politicians.  During his almost 
six years in power, former prime  minister Thaksin Shinawatra used 
the police force to  intimidate political opponents and critics. The 
ex-premier also used the entire force to commit  wholesale human 
rights violations in connection with  his notorious "war against 
drugs" in 2002. During that  now infamous campaign, more than 2,500 
suspected drug  traffickers were killed under dubious circumstances. 
The police claimed that many of those who died either  resisted 
arrest and were killed extrajudicially by law  enforcement officials, 
or they were liquidated by  fellow drug traffickers - the latter 
claim being the  most widely used to expla! in the large number of deaths.

Little has been done by the Surayud government to shed  light on this 
dark episode of police brutality. Few, if  any, of the police 
officers and other law enforcement  officials suspected of abusing 
their authority have  been investigated.

The way things stand, how the Surayud government  proposes to 
implement reform is as important as setting  lofty goals, if not more 
so. After all, the police  force continues to be plagued by ingrained 
corruption.  Without a serious attempt to weed out and 
punish  corrupt officers, any move to reform the police force  will 
not go far - and is probably doomed to complete  failure.

The government, which came to power after the military  toppled the 
corruption-prone Thaksin government in  September last year, has a 
unique opportunity to rid  corrupt elements from the police force. 
But apparently  this opportunity has already been missed. With 
less  than one month to go before it hands over power to 
the  democratically elected government that will emerge from  the 
December 23 election, the least this government can  do is to put in 
place a master plan for drastic reform  of the police. Concrete 
measures must be implemented under a specific time frame so that the 
next government  can take over and implemented these without too 
much  fuss. Police reform is one of the things that should  not be 
left unfinished by the interim government.

If previous attempts at police reform over the decades  are any 
guide, civilian governments cannot be trusted  to implement change in 
a straightforward manner. This  is partly due to the lack of public 
pressure that would  otherwise stiffen a civilian government's 
resolve to  vigorously push for much-needed change in the way 
the  police force does its job. The government and the  National 
Legislative Assembly owe it to the Thai public  to bring about 
meaningful police reform before they  leave office. If there are to 
be any positive, lasting  legacies that this administration can 
justly claim  credit for in the future, police reform might be one of  them.
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