The shooting involving a former MP in Nonthaburi on Monday raises questions about political connections and privilege in the justice system.
Such questions are inevitable after images showed former MP Chalong Riewraeng, who confessed to gunning down Nonthaburi Provincial Administrative Organisation (PAO) president Pol Col Thongchai Yenprasert, sitting beside police and answering media questions without handcuffs. He appeared relaxed as he smoked nonchalantly. In other images, Mr Chalong rested comfortably on a sofa while forensic officers searched his Nonthaburi home.
The images suggest Mr Chalong was confident in his influence over local authorities, including police. A veteran politician, Mr Chalong represented Nonthaburi as an MP for the Prachakorn Thai, Thai Rak Thai and Pheu Thai parties for almost two decades.
In less than a week, Nonthaburi has become a hotspot for gun violence. Another high-profile shooting, which occurred just days before Monday's PAO chief murder, involved a 14-year-old schoolboy who opened fire on school grounds, leaving multiple people dead. The victims included his grandparents, whom he shot dead before leaving home.
As Nonthaburi police wrapped up their investigation into the school shooting, deputy police chief Pol Gen Thatchai Pitaneelabutr boasted of solving the horrific case quickly. He even recited the infamous statement, "There is nothing under the sun that Thai police officers cannot do," attributed to the late Pol Gen Phao Sriyanond, a former police chief who entrenched a culture of power within the organisation while overseeing it from 1951 to 1957.
The remark is ironic, as it was Pol Gen Phao who plunged the then Police Department into a dark age. He expanded the department to balance the power of the military under Field Marshal Plaek Pibulsongkram. At times, the agency became an instrument of the regime for eliminating political opponents, including four ministers affiliated with Pridi Banomyong.
Over the years, the agency, which later became the police bureau, grew into a vast organisation riddled with graft and internal power struggles, as Thailand effectively became a police state. Field Marshal Sarit Thanarat's rise to power through a coup d'état in 1957 effectively ended Pol Gen Phao's police empire.
However, the culture of power has endured despite repeated calls for organisational reform. Apart from a name change -- from the police bureau to the Royal Thai Police -- and the passage of a new Police Act in 2022 aimed at promoting professionalism, curbing abuses of power and boosting morale, meaningful reform remains a distant goal.
Police are frequently caught up in scandals involving position-buying, promotion through connections rather than merit under the so-called "elephant ticket" system, embezzlement, kickbacks from gambling dens and other vices. The images of Mr Chalong with police officers only reinforce perceptions of a patron-client relationship between those in khaki uniforms and influential figures.
More must be done to reform the police structure, including its chain of command, promotion system and public accountability, to ensure officers uphold professional standards without political connections or favouritism. At this stage, Nonthaburi police must assure the public that, despite what the images appear to show, everyone is treated equally under the law.
