Rayong police tackle crime with e-learning

The guns that the Rayong police wield were taken off for a while. During a two-day training course held in a computer room, the Rayong Provincial Police promptly learnt to use their fingers - trained to fire guns - to click a mouse and learn how to improve their crime-suppression skills.

Every 15 days, at least 25 police personnel from 16 police stations across the province will spend two days on a computer, learning new techniques to tackle criminal cases.

The move has been facilitated through a collaboration with the Office of Narcotics Control Board which has implemented a new electronic-learning system that helps its officers learn new techniques to investigate the addictive-drug trade in the province.

"We have introduced an e-learning course to train our crime-suppression personnel to help them gain better skills. We believe that through this course they can learn to fight crime better on the field," deputy commander of Rayong Provincial Police, Pol Col Chartchai Tangiean said.

The two-day course, which will be cover 1,000 personnel in all, starts with a general pre-test on the person's existing crime-suppression skills. On the basis of the responses, the system gives a pre-course score which works as a measure of the development of a person's skill.

The course then takes a person through the crime-fighting techniques including observation skills, as well as tips and tricks on how to search suspects systematically and use medical knowledge while observing

suspects. After the lesson, a final test is conducted to rate the trainee's understanding.

"Since this is an electronic-learning system, it will be easier for  trainees to learn by themselves. If they have a problem with any portion of the course, they are free to come back to take the course again," the deputy commander said.

The content used in the course has been developed by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in cooperation with the United States' Drug Enforcement Administration.

The two organisations have built an e-learning programme to train police across the world on fighting drug-related crimes.