Police under scrutiny like never before
The international microscope on the Ratchaprasong bombing is revealing every flaw in the investigators' procedure
Thailand’s police force has often been under the international spotlight. Understandably, the scrutiny grows in intensity every time a major crime here grabs foreign headlines. Yet, because the Internet era shuffles the global news incessantly and at high speed, the world’s focus quickly moves on, leaving Thai law enforcement to limp on as ever, as if from one storm of controversy to another.
The citizenry has come to accept low policing standards as an everyday fact of life, but we nevertheless harbour hopes of general and gradual improvements. Every now and then policymakers give an added spur to those hopes by suggesting that the police force undergo a determined process of reform.
The debate always centres on the pressing needs for civilian oversight and greater accountability, though it rarely extends as far as tackling deficiencies in professionalism and detection. Polite words are usually preferred – like “transparency” as opposed to “corruption”.
But the underlying ambition is always the same: that our lawenforcement officers behave in a less tawdry manner and show more sophistication in carrying out their duties. This hope is especially high right now, when all eyes are on Thailand in the aftermath of a bomb attack that killed 20 innocent people and injured at least 100 others.
We know the world is watching and we are relying on the authorities to catch the mystery culprits behind this ungodly act, whoever they might be. Unfortunately, we have once again been let down. Public dismay billows not so much at the failure to apprehend the criminals, but rather at the authorities’ seeming inability to match their words to their actions.
Haphazard and sometimes contradictory statements and messages are reinforcing the widespread perception that, when it comes to solving ghastly murders, Thailand’s finest, and the policymakers behind them, are simply not up to the task.
Immediately following the attack at the Erawan Shrine, the authorities promised a thorough investigation and vowed to do their utmost to bring the culprits to justice. Instead, they next appeared to prioritise a return to normal everyday life, as if prodding the public to forget about what had happened. Rather than a painstaking examination of evidence at the scene in order to get a better understanding of the explosive device used, we witnessed a hasty cleanup that swept away all signs of the blast – and with it potential evidence.
It was in sharp contrast to the forensics experts clad in white jumpsuits who combed the scene of the Boston Marathon bombing. The American authorities gathered the evidence, tracked down the bombers and put the one who survived on trial, all in a matter of months.
It appears that, in this case, our own authorities were far too concerned about minimising damage to the tourism industry by projecting an alliswell image to the outside world.
As part of damagecontrol efforts, the police chief, Pol General Somyot Pumpanmuang, and his entourage took a tour of Bangkok hangouts popular among foreign visitors and expatriates. Why, we have to wonder, would he choose the adultentertainment district for his public relations drive?
The result was a “photo op” that caught Somyot and his men talking to reporters in the Soi Nana red light district – beneath a large neon sign for the gogo bar Suckers. The choice of backdrop was surely an accident. The Royal Thai Police, oblivious to the mockery that greeted the image, asked to be credited for the photo when it was distributed among the news media.
Irony aside, what counts is not the ineptitude of a publicrelations campaign but the actions being taken to uphold the law.
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