The mysterious murder of an ex-cop-turned-social activist, a notorious delay in the annual round of police promotions, a scandal involving police uniforms, and an abandoned corpse.
These are headlines that reflect the state of police affairs in the kingdom nowadays.
Let's begin with the dead cop.
Pol Capt Watcharin Banjathosawat was shot dead on Tuesday inside his car, which was parked in front of his home in Songkhla's Muang district.
The former officer, 48, used to serve as deputy superintendent of investigations at the provincial police headquarters. The reason for his resignation from the force remains unclear, but local media said that after quitting, he had worked with volunteer lawyers to help crime victims who claimed they had not been "treated fairly" by the police.
Another thing, while the motive behind his murder is also unknown, what we do know is it's not an easy job for ordinary bandits to kill a police officer -- even a retired one. I should also mention that his family has shown themselves reluctant to give any information to investigators.
Let's move on to another notorious case: the delay in police promotions, which makes us wonder helplessly what is going on. The list was supposed to completed by March 1, including the replacements for officers who retired last October.
According to local news reports, the delay was unavoidable as several changes or reshuffles had to be made. The office that saw the most change appears to be the immigration police under none other than Lt Gen Surachate Hakparn. Is there some relation here to lobbying or bargaining? No one would say. But if there is anyone who stands to gain from the delay, it certainly isn't you, me or the rest of the general public.
Another scandal concerns police uniforms. From news reports, the case involved two officers who were family friends. One is a police officer, the other a man in green whose wife owns a tailor shop.
The conflict took place after the police officer's wife was in 2017 allocated 100,000 yards of designated khaki-coloured fabric, coded sor nor wor 01. She subsequently went into business with the wife of the other man, who promised to make a uniform at below-market prices.
It was reported that more than 5,000 officers approached the shop, with some commissions going to the police officer's wife. But after more than a year had passed, many officers began complaining they had not received their uniforms, while those who did said it was the wrong kind of khaki. That led to a probe.
Although the police officer appears to be the victim in this case, I cannot help but wonder why a "quota" was awarded to his wife? And how can we know if the quota allocation was transparent? Isn't this something of a vested interest? I hope these questions get answered.
Finally, there was the case of a rescue worker who found the body of a drowned man in what seemed like a suicide in Nonthaburi last month. The worker, known by netizens as "Uncle Pom", and his rescue team fished the body from the water, but police protocol required the corpse to be examined by a police investigator before it could be moved from Nonthaburi pier.
As the body was flown away, it became unclear whose jurisdiction the case and corpse fell under. If you think officers from different stations would scramble to the "crime" scene and fight for the right to examine the corpse, you don't know Thailand.
Uncle Pom said he had to wait with the corpse at the pier till the next morning, as no officers had shown up. He believed this was a case of passing the buck. Only when he shared his frustration on social media did the case catch the attention of the police, and the work got done. But that's not the end of the story.
The rescue worker was suspended from work, pending a probe by his office. The reason? His complaints tainted the image of the Royal Thai Police. Luckily, the probe found him not guilty and he was re-deployed with the rescue team. I believe things would have gone from black to white if the deceased was someone from a family on the Who's Who list. In that eventuality, we would no doubt have seen several police officers compete for the task.
The four cases -- which are just a few of many examples -- attest to how the country is in dire need of police reform, a process that is long overdue.
It's unfortunate the Prayut Chan-o-cha regime, with such enormous power, has shamefully failed to push for this, despite having previously pledged to do so. And now that much-needed reform is going astray.
How long until the reform is achieved? Who knows? What I know for sure is we cannot place our hopes with the powers-that-be.
Ploenpote Atthakor is editorial pages editor, Bangkok Post.
