Police dirt

We have been trying to get to the stories on crooked cops for a while but simply haven’t had time.

But let’s begin with our last post on this, where we mentioned that the Police Complaint Review Board ruled that former national police chief Pol. Gen. Torsak Sukwimol, related to the king’s right-hand man Air Chief Marshal Satitpong Sukvimol, and more than 200 other officers, are guilty of disciplinary violations.

We recalled that the complaint about this went back a while and was related to complaints by now cashiered Pol Lt Gen Surachate Hakparnin. All those cops are alleged to have accepted money from an online gambling racket for protecting it.

More recently, a Bangkok Post story reports the whining of other police “urging an urgent fact-finding probe into allegations branding the Royal Thai Police (RTP) a ‘criminal gang’.” Somehow we think that wealthy senior cops complaining is not going to get much sympathy. They are incensed by Surachate for describing the police as “the largest criminal gang in Thailand…”. Again, this fact is widely known and has been for decades.

But these guys say “he should submit any evidence he holds to the authorities rather than publicly discrediting the entire force.” We seem to recall he did this, and that is what led to the Torsak et al. investigation and which saw Surachate threatened, then cashiered, and accused of scamming.

On roughly the same day that these cops were whining, the Bangkok Post also reported that the Torsak “case is more than a [potential] personal downfall — it’s a mirror reflecting the systematic flaws within Thailand’s law enforcement.” It goes on:

The scale of the scandal — allegedly involving hundreds of officers and illicit payments from illegal businesses — has painted a troubling picture of the police institution.

This case is perhaps the final litmus test on whether RTP can salvage its image and regain public trust. Without the people’s confidence, how can the law be fully enforced? And for the public, who else can we turn to in times of distress when we have lost trust in our police?

Throw in corrupt prosecutors and politicized courts and the whole judicial system appears flawed and untrusted.