Former Democrat MP Vilas Chanpitaksa on Sunday proposed the Royal Police Cadet Academy (RPCA) be upgraded to an advanced training institute to address issues such as nepotism and corruption in police agencies.
The plan would dismantle the Sotus (Seniority, Order, Tradition, Unity and Spirit") system in police organisations as officers would not work in favour of their classmates, seniors or juniors during investigations, he said.
He also suggested academics with law degrees from universities or education institutes be nominated to supervise inquiries as well as in recruiting eligible officers.
Mr Vilas made his remarks about police reform, a subject which was part of an anti-corruption seminar at the October 14 Memorial on Ratchadamnoen Klang Avenue in Bangkok on Sunday.
He said the idea of abolishing the RPCA is impossible as it will be met with strong opposition. So, in his view, the academy should be made into an advanced police training institute.
Meanwhile, Seree Suwanpanont, a member of the police reform committee, also speaking at the seminar, said reforms will help improve society.
The police are not bad people, but their operations sometimes may cause trouble to some groups as they were authorised to exercise the law, he said, adding that instead they should try to work closely with the public.
The problem was how far police could provide fairness to all sides, he said.
Mr Seree said he did not intend to point a finger at anyone as he just wanted the public to know that the image of the police is being tainted by a few officers with their inappropriate behaviour.
To address corruption in the police system, the committee and the public needed to work together to find a solution to steer the police away from earning extra money through illegal activities, he said.
"Public first must be the priority in police reform. Secondly, officers must be empowered to conduct free and fair investigation without any interference. However, almost each and every case should be rechecked," Mr Seree said.
He believed that prosecutors should not be allowed to interfere in investigation process. "There should be a clear-cut rule about the kind of cases where prosecutors could join. And what are we going to do if both police and prosecutors collude in fixing the investigation," he asked.
He said the prosecutors should only examine and check cases that are forwarded to them by police after the investigation process.
Political activist Srisuwan Janya, who is the secretary-general of the Association to Protect the Thai Constitution, said he believed the public wanted to see reform of traffic police. They should attend to traffic duties rather than arrest motorists. The Royal Thai Police could not be reached for comment at press time.
