Royal Thai Police

The Royal Thai Police
ตำรวจแห่งชาติ
Seal of The Royal Thai Police.
Agency overview
Formed	1933
Jurisdiction	National
Headquarters	Bangkok
Annual budget	62,510,611,700 Baht (2008)
Agency executive	Police General Wichian Podphosri, Commissioner-General of the Royal Thai Police
Website
Police.go.th

The Royal Thai Police (Thai: ตำรวจแห่งชาติ) are the national police of Thailand.

About

Primary responsibility for the maintenance of public order through enforcement of the kingdom's laws was exercised by the Thailand National Police Department (TNPD), a subdivision of the Ministry of Interior. Charged with performing police functions throughout the entire country, the TNPD was a unitary agency whose power and influence in Thai national life had at times rivaled that of the army.

The formal functions of the TNPD included more than the enforcement of laws and apprehension of offenders. The department also played an important role in the government's efforts to suppress the remnants of the insurgency. In the event of an invasion by external forces, much of the police force would come under the control of the Ministry of Defense to serve with, but not be incorporated into, the military forces.

Originally modeled on the pre-World War II national police force of Japan, the TNPD was reorganized several times to meet changing public order and internal security needs. American advice, training, and equipment, which were provided from 1951 through the early 1970s, did much to introduce new law enforcement concepts and practices and to aid in the modernization of the TNPD. During this era the strength and effectiveness of the police grew steadily.

All components of the police system were administered by the TNPD headquarters in Bangkok, which also provided technical support for law enforcement activities throughout the kingdom (see fig. 20). The major operational units of the force were the Provincial Police, the Border Patrol Police (BPP), the Metropolitan Police, and smaller specialized units supervised by the Central Investigation Bureau.

In mid-1987 the total strength of the TNPD, including administrative and support personnel, was estimated at roughly 110,000. Of this number, over one-half were assigned to the Provincial Police and some 40,000 to the BPP. More than 10,000 served in the Metropolitan Police. Quasi-military in character, the TNPD was headed by a director general, who held the rank of police general. He was assisted by three deputy directors general and five assistant directors general, all of whom held the rank of police lieutenant general. Throughout the TNPD system, all ranks except the lowest (constable) corresponded to those of the army. The proliferation of high ranks in the TNPD organizational structure, as in the military, indicated the political impact of the police on national life.

In 1998, TNPD was transferred from the Ministry of Interior of Thailand to be directly under the Office of the Prime Minister.

Police Organization

Thai Traffic Police in Surin, Thailand

Royal Thai Police officer

Thai Police car in burgundy and white

Thai Police car in burgundy and white

Thai Police car in burgundy and white.

Tuk-tuk used by the police in Chiangmai, Thailand

Kong Prap Pram police force sign, a police force especially working against drug trafficking - shown on a police car.

Logo of the Thai Tourist Police.

The Thai police are subdivided into several regions and services, each enjoying their own powers.

• Royal Thai Police Headquarters - Bangkok
  • Director-General of Police
• Border Patrol Police Division 40,000 paramilitary force
  • BPP General Staff Division
  • BPP Tactical Training Division
  • BPP Support Division
  • BPP Nawut Sondetya Hospital
  • BPP Village Scout Center
  • BPP Counter-Insurgency Training Center
  • BPP Districts 1 through 4
  • Police Aerial Reinforcement Unit (PARU)
    • Airborne Training
    • Naresuan 261 Counter-Terrorism Unit (formerly the 4th Company PARU)
    • Sea Air Rescue Unit
• Central Investigation Bureau - national coordinating headquarters which assist provincial and metropolitan components in preventing and suppressing criminal activity and in minimizing threats to national security. Having jurisdiction over the entire country, the CIB was organized to assist both provincial and metropolitan components of the TNPD in preventing and suppressing criminal activity and in minimizing threats to national security.
  • Specialized units of the bureau, including the railroad, marine, highway, and forestry police, employed up-to-date technical equipment, law enforcement techniques, and training.
  • five other divisions and offices employed modern procedures to assist in investigating and preventing crime.
    • The Crime Suppression Division-one of the bureau's largest components—was responsible for conducting most of the technical investigations of criminal offenses throughout the kingdom. Its Emergency Unit coped with riots and other public disorders, sabotage, counterfeiting, fraud, illegal gambling operations, narcotics trafficking, and the activities of secret societies and organized criminal associations.
    • Special Branch—sometimes referred to by critics as the "political police"--was responsible for controlling subversive activities and served as the TNPD's chief intelligence organization.
    • The Criminal Records Office collected and maintained records required in the conduct of police work, including dossiers and fingerprints of known criminals and persons suspected of wrongdoing .
    • the well-equipped Scientific Crime Detection Laboratory, technicians performed the requisite chemical and physical analyses. *** Licenses Division registered and licensed firearms, vehicles, gambling establishments, and various other items and enterprises as required by law.
• Office of Immigration Bureau
• Narcotics Suppression Bureau
• Office Of Logistics
  • Aviation Division - operates the force's extensive fleet of helicopters and light aircraft.
• Office of Royal Court Security Police
  • Crown Prince's Royal Protective Unit
    • Crown Prince Royal Protective Unit 'Dechochai Knight 3'
• Provincial Police Division -

The Provincial Police formed the largest of the TNPD operational components in both manpower and geographic responsibility. It was headed by a commander, who reported to the director general of the TNPD, and administered through four police regions—geographic areas of responsibility similar to those of the army regional commands. This force provided police services to every town and village throughout the kingdom except metropolitan Bangkok and border areas. The Provincial Police thus handled law enforcement activities and in many cases was the principal representative of the central government's authority in much of the country.

During the 1960s and early 1970s, as the police assumed an increasing role in counterinsurgency operations, a lack of coordination among security forces operating in the rural areas became apparent. Observers noted that the overall police effort suffered because of conflicting organizational patterns and the highly centralized control system that required decisions on most matters to emanate from the various police bureaus of TNPD headquarters in Bangkok.

A reorganization of the TNPD in 1978 and 1979 gave more command authority to the four police lieutenant generals who served as regional commissioners of the Provincial Police. Thereafter, the senior officers of each region not only controlled all provincial police assigned to their respective geographic areas but also directed the railroad, highway, marine, and forestry police units operating there, without going through the chain of command to the Central Investigation Bureau in Bangkok. Although this change increased the workload of the four regional headquarters, it resulted in greater efficiency and improved law enforcement.

Divided into 9 regions covering the 75 Provinces of Thailand except metropolitan Bangkok and the border areas:

• • Region 1 Ayuthaya
  • Region 2 Chonburi
  • Region 3 Nakhon Ratchasima
  • Region 4 Khon Kaen
  • Region 5 Chiang Mai
  • Region 6 Phitsanulok
  • Region 7 Nakhon Pathom
  • Region 8 Surat Thani
  • Region 9 Songkhla
  • Chaiya Training
  • Special Operations Units
• 191 Special Branch Police
  • Arintharat 26 Special Operations Unit
• The Police Education Bureau of the TNPD was responsible for training police personnel in the latest methods of law enforcement and the use of modern weapons. It operated the Police Officers Academy at Sam Phran, the detective training school at Bang Kaen, the Metropolitan Police Training School at Bang Kaen, and the Provincial Police training centers at Nakhon Pathom, Lampang, Nakhon Ratchasima, and Yala.

The bureau also supervised a number of sites established and staffed by the BPP to train its field platoons in counterinsurgency operations. These sites included a large national facility at Hua Hin and smaller facilities in Udon Thani, Ubon Ratchathani, Chiang Mai, and Songkhla.

• Tourist Police - uniformed personnel who lack police powers and are largely responsible for writing out reports for insurance companies for victims of theft. In more serious cases, they will translate reports to be passed on the normal police in Bangkok. Recently recruiting foreign nationals living in Thailand.
  • Training
• Immigration Police Division
• Marine Police Division
• Metropolitan Police Division, Bangkok - Responsible for providing all law enforcement services for the capital city of Bangkok and its suburbs, the Metropolitan Police was probably the most visible and publicly recognizable of all TNPD components. This largely uniformed urban force operated under the command of a commissioner, who held the rank of police major general and was assisted by six deputy commissioners. Organizationally, the force consisted of three divisions, each responsible for police services in one of the three urban areas: northern Bangkok, southern Bangkok, and Thon Buri. Together they accounted for about forty police precincts, which were patrolled around the clock.

In addition to covering the city with foot patrols, the Metropolitan Police maintained motorized units, a canine corps, building guards, traffic-control specialists, and law enforcement personnel trained to deal with juvenile problems. The Traffic Police Division also provided mounted escorts and guards of honor for the king and visiting dignitaries and served as a riotcontrol force to prevent unlawful demonstrations and to disperse unruly crowds within the capital city.

• Narcotics Suppression Division
• Provincial Police Division

Royal Thai Police Aviation Division

• 1 Fokker 50
• 1 Casa CN - 235 - 200 M
• 9 EC 155 Helicopters
• 9 Bell 412 Helicopters
• 15 Bell 212 Helicopters
• 26 Bell 205 Helicopters
• 16 Bell 206 Helicopters

Police Conduct

Recently, Thai Police and justice system in the holiday island of Phuket have been accused of corruption, and over-reaction by tourist to the island. In one case an Australian woman was arrested and accused of stealing a bar mat. She spent four nights in jail and had her passport confiscated. Then she faced a wait of another 14 weeks on bail until the next phase of her prosecution. This is despite a friend of her confessing to the police and providing a sworn statement that she had placed the bar mat in the woman's bag as a joke. Eventually the case was resolved after the intervention of governor of Phuket, Wichai Praisa-nob, after being contacted by Thailand's Ministry of Tourism and the Foreign Ministry. A deal was done under which she would plead guilty, she would be fined, and governor Wichai Praisa-nob would pay the fine and give an apology. After this her passport was returned and she was allowed to return to Australia.

In another case an American couple were arrested upon returning to Thailand and accused of being responsible of burning down a house in which they resided on a previous stay at Phuket. The fire had previously been investigated and found to have been caused by an electrical fault. To recover their passports and being allowed to depart Thailand they had to compensate the house owner and make under the table payments to the judges, the public prosecutor, everyone down to the bailiffs in the court. This cost them around 45,000 US dollars.

In 2007 a 15 year old Danish boy was involved in an insurance fraud when a Chinese couple threw themselves under his Jetboat killing one of them. While the court ruled the incident as an accident, the police detained the boy and held his passport until an amount of 300,000 DKK had been paid so the case could be settled within weeks.

The conduct of the local police in Pai, and Thai drug enforcement, has also generated an unusual amount of controversy over the past decade. This is partially due to the proximity of Pai to drug routes from the Shan State in Burma, however given the post-2000 rise in incidents involving foreign tourists, it is evident that other factors are also at work.

Police corruption remains a problem in Thailand. Transparency International's Global Corruption Barometer 2007, a survey assessing the public's perceptions and experience of corruption in 60 countries, states that, for Thailand, the police received a rating of four out of five, where one represents "not at all corrupt" and five represents "extremely corrupt" (6 Dec. 2007, 22).

Notable Thai Police Chiefs

• Phao Sriyanond (also "Pao Sriyanond") was Director General of Thailand's national police from 1951 to 1957.
• Sarit Dhanarajata was Director General of Thailand's national police from 1959 to 1963.
• Pratin Santiprapop was Director General of the Royal Thai Police from 1994 to 1994.
• Poj Boonyajinda was Director General of the Royal Thai Police from 1994 to 1997.
• Pracha Promnog was Director General of the Royal Thai Police from 1997 to 1998 and Commissioner-General of the Royal Thai Police from 1998 to 2000.
• Pornsak Durongkavibulya was Commissioner-General of the Royal Thai Police from 2000 to 2001.
• Sant Sarutanond was Commissioner-General of the Royal Thai Police from 2001 to 2004.
• Kowit Wattana was Commissioner-General of the Royal Thai Police from 2004 to 2007.
• Seripisut Temiyavet was the acting Commissioner-General of the Royal Thai Police from February 5, 2007 to September 10, 2007.
• Kowit Wattana was reinstated as Commissioner-General of the Royal Thai Police from September 10, 2007 to September 30, 2007 (his mandatory retirement).
• Seripisut Temiyavet was Commissioner-General of the Royal Thai Police starting from October 1, 2007 to April 2008. Appointed Police Commissioner of Thailand by a military junta government. As a police officer he gained a reputation from targeting mafia leaders. He was removed from office on April 2008 by the elected government of Samak Sundaravej under charges of corruption. His supporters, however, claim that these charges are put-up jobs to punish him for prosecuting many cases against the militarily deposed former premier Thaksin Shinawatra.

See also

Thai army and police in Chiang Mai disperse a crowd after protesters had started fires outside the governor's residence, May 19, 2010

• Border Patrol Police
  • Naresuan 261 Counter-Terrorism Unit
• Controversy over Police Conduct in Pai
• March of Public Peace Preservation

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Library of Congress Country Studies.

Further reading

• Lyovarin, Win; translated by Prisna Boonsinsukh (2003), Democracy, Shaken and Stirred, Bangkok?, ISBN 9789749129692 .

Review by Thai Media Project

External links

• Official Royal Thai Police website (Thai)
• English Information on the Royal Thai Police
• Catalogue of Torture and Corruption by The Royal Thai Police