Priewpan to be police chief
The Police Commission yesterday approved the promotion of Pol General Priewpan Damapong to commissioner-general of the National Police Office.
“The prime minister will soon forward his appointment for royal endorsement,” said General Ek Angsananon, secretary of the Police Commission.
Priewpan has been the acting police chief and is also the most senior deputy commissioner-general.
The post became vacant when the Yingluck Shinawatra-led government transferred General Wichien Pojphosri to the National Security Council in a move widely seen as aimed at helping Priewpan rise to the top of the police force.
Priewpan is an elder brother of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s ex-wife Pojaman na Pombejra.
Ek said the Police Commission also decided to restore the position of the National Police Office’s commander, which was cancelled in 2009.
“But we have not yet decided who should get this post,” the spokesman said.
The government’s earlier move to name a new secretary-general for the Southern Border Provinces Administration Centre (SBPAC) has raised suspicion from some corners.
Pol Lt Colonel Tawee Sodsong got the important post at SBPAC while his predecessor Panu Utai-rat was abruptly shifted to the PM’s Office as an adviser.
“Why should he be transferred? The government should provide a clear explanation,” said Asst Professor Abdulrosa Wan-ali, deputy dean of humanities and social science at Yala Rajabhat University.
