Police need to overhaul traditional way of operating

It may be a bit of a wishful thinking but a committee from the National Reform Council (NRC) is hoping to come up with a plan that would remove or prevent political intervention in police work. 

The NRC panel said the police have often allowed themselves to be influence by politicians, especially in times of crisis. Therefore, the police force must be reformed to prevent such a thing from happening. 

Some of the issues the NRC has been looking at include restructuring the Police Commission and the National Police Policy Commission, as well as the system of appointing a national police chief.

One of the challenges is, of course, revising the mandate of the National Police Policy Commission. The aim is to deprive it of the power to appoint the national police chief. 

Under the proposed reform plan, representatives from the Office of the Attorney-General, the Lawyers Council of Thailand and the National Human Rights Commission, as well as members of the Royal Thai Police and other security agencies would be the ones who appoint the police commissioners. 

Police superintendents with the rank of police colonel, meanwhile, would elect the national police chief. Once that is done, the commissioner would forward the selected nominee’s name to the prime minister so the pick could be put up for Royal endorsement. 

Moreover, other members of the commission also would be elected - six from deputy national chiefs or senior inspectors, three from retired police commissioners, the incumbent police chief, secretary-general of the Civil Service Commission, representatives from the Cabinet and Parliament, as well as two specialists.

What is not clear is whether the new process will help promote transparency and fairness, the two items that have plagued Thailand’s police force. 

Let’s face it, in most circumstances, the public doesn’t really feel that much more secure when they see Thailand’s finest heading their way. 

Besides that missing sense of comfort, there is also the practice of patronage and pulling strings within the police force itself. Needless to say, this eats into the kind of people that apply for the job, as well as the force’s professionalism. 

There is also the problem of institutional mindset and in this case, the country’s police force desperately needs an overhaul.

The current system promotes patronage because officers don’t think about the institution and whether it is respected. Too often it is what the boss wants, the boss gets – no questions asked – even it means breaking the law. 

And in such an environment, it is fair to ask how can a clean cop operate and endure?

This problem cannot be solved overnight. Structural reform of the police force may help but if the problem with an outdated mindset is not fully addressed, then we can forget about seeing any meaningful change in the future. 

Getting other agencies, such as a National Human Rights Commissioner, on board is a good start, but it’s well short of what is required.

Better civilian oversight is needed and this is where the local population and community representatives should have a role. 

Indeed, Thai police officers like to talk about how they are there to serve the public. Well, here is an opportunity for them and the NRC to put their money where their mouth is: make the public part of that oversight, to show that the police are accountable to the people.

It would be nice to have a police force free from political interference but the NRC needs to go beyond that. If the police force is rotten, interference or no interference, then it is still a rotten force. 

We can talk about preventing political interference until we turn blue. But if we police don’t clean up their act and behave in a manner acceptable to the public, nothing good will come out of this NRC reform. 

In the end, we could end up with a police force that is not only free from interference, but much more arrogant and indifferent to the public’s needs and concerns.