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Published on July 13, 2007

The government bill aimed at radically restructuring the Royal Thai Police does not propose any measures that would promote decentralisation of power and public participation, as boasted by those who drafted it, deputy police chief General Charnwut Watcharaphuk said yesterday.

Charnwut said the power to run the new police force, as proposed in the bill, would be assigned to certain supervisory committees whose members were civilians, including officials from the Justice and Interior ministries and even university lecturers.

"That doesn't reflect the genuine principle on decentralisation of power," he said, adding that he found no conditions in the bill that ensured safety under the new structure or that the public could participate in ensuring a greater role.

Charnwut, who has coordinated the police's opposition to the bill, admitted that some of the 10 major conditions proposed in the bill were good, but many conditions would make the police's work and public service "difficult and troublesome".

He said a proposal made by the police alongside the government bill offered useful solutions including the set-up of a new division to cope with international crimes and the influx of illegal labourers to Thailand, the re-establishment of several support units and the establishment of units to handle women's and children's affairs in all regional police divisions.

Asked to comment on how police officers would react if the Council of State approved the bill - also known as "Wasit's Version" due to the role played in its drafting by former crime-buster Wasit Dejkunchorn - Charnwut said: "That will be a pessimistic scenario."

Former police chiefs and many retired police generals earlier met at the Royal Thai Police Club to discuss their efforts to oppose the bill. Former police chief Sawas Amornwiwat questioned the junta-installed government's efforts to restructure only the police, saying it had done nothing about other institutions in the justice system.

Sawas also admitted that police officers had shifted to "neutral gear" when dealing with those in power during the Thaksin Shinawatra government who were subject to criminal liability, but had diligently taken action against those in the anti-Thaksin movements.

"Before the coup, the police could hardly not respond to orders given by the former prime minister, who was a police officer, or they faced hardship in their career for disobeying orders," he said.