BMA may start policing traffic
The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) has discussed with the Royal Thai Police the possibility of the city administration assuming oversight of traffic police in the capital.
City Council president Suthichai Virakulsunthorn yesterday met with National Police deputy chief General Ek Angsawanont at City Hall to discuss the possibility of transferring the supervision of traffic policing.
Suthichai said after the meeting that the BMA and the police had worked together to police traffic in Bangkok, such as by overseeing traffic lights and security cameras on the streets, as well as imposing fines on offending motorists.
He said the City Council would set up an ad hoc committee to study the feasibility of transferring traffic police to be under the BMA.
Ek said a main obstacle to the transfer was the Land Traffic Act of 1979, which would need to be amended to empower local officials to act as traffic police. He said the Council of State, the government’s legal advisory agency, was drafting an amendment to the law.
The deputy chief said the amendment would allow the city administration to oversee traffic affairs in Bangkok.
“Police are pleased to transfer our existing power relating to traffic to the BMA, but we still have a problem about the workforce. Traffic police do not work on traffic alone; they also are involved with crime suppression, crowd control and road safety,” he said.
Meanwhile, traffic policemen at different Bangkok police stations interviewed yesterday said they would move to work under the BMA if the benefits were better, although they loved being police – their occupation of choice for many years.
