Police corruption still exists in Thailand?

Events in the news this year provide strong evidence that police corruption is still a big problem in Thailand.

Bribes to low ranking police officers for traffic violations may be the only form of corruption that most people encounter in their daily life, but the lengthy trial of Crime Suppression Division (CSD) head Pongpat has at least revealed that some high-ranking police are still using the power of their position for personal gain. The arrest of another police officer investigating lese majeste cases on lese majeste charges for abusing his power has added further evidence and support to the thesis that police corruption has not yet disappeared.

In 2015, mass human trafficking arrests in the South revealed a prior deficit of police enforcement in the human trafficking area, perhaps indicating a network of corruption involving security officials and the police.

The flight to asylum of Paween the lead investigator in the case after claiming that he had essentially been punished for his success is the latest development.

Paween claimed that his life was in danger because he was reassigned to the one area of the country most affected by the mass arrests.  With the investigations incomplete, many arrests of powerful people in the South yet to be carried out, potential bail for offenders and uncertain trial outcomes ahead, his claims of danger seem legitimate (see here). One is reminded of the police officers on death row, released on bail pending appeal, found guilty in the rice field hanging of a young drug suspect around the time of the drug wars in 2003. The families of the deceased feared for their lives and sought witness protection.

TRANSPARENCY & ACCOUNTABILITY, THE REAL ISSUE

Corruption, defined as the use of one's power and position for personal gain, admittedly does not really get at the heart of the problem which is more far-reaching.

Transparency and accountability are the twin concepts that better capture the essential nature of the problem.

The media spotlight put on the Koh Tao muder case, due to two young British tourists being vistims, has revealed that lack of transparency or accountability in police investigative operations may cover up shoddy police work that doesn't produce evidence credible enough to identify and convict perpetrators of crimes.

The popular phrase "scapegoat" oft-used in the media, captures the widespread belief that innocent people are regularly tried and convicted based on misplaced police priorities of getting a conviction in high-profile cases, and thus maintaining honour and face, rather that pursuing justice and the people really guilty  of the crimes.

Transparency and accountability in police operations as public servants pursuing a goal of justice for all under rule of law, perhaps would be a better characterization of the goal that is not yet achieved and the basic problem to be solved.

CHULALONGKORN RESEARCH, 20 YEARS AGO

The work twenty years ago of Sungsidh Piriyarangsan together with co-researcher Pasuk Pongpaichit at Chulalongkorn University pretty much defined police corruption as an area of research.

The chapter on police corruption in the English language volume Corruption and Democracy in Thailand (1994) is comprehensive, covering the historical origins, the sociology of corruption in police patron client networks, parliamentary drives in the 1980s for police reform, etc.

Whether accusations of corruption or true or false, the typical pattern of reaction on the part of the police force is to immediately deny any wrongdoing and to order a quick internal investigation with little credibility.

This is exactly what happened in the recent Paween case. After the human trafficking lead investigator fled to Australia, accusations of his being unpatriotic and threats of a defamation case against him to uphold the honour of the police accompanied the initial denials. After that a quick investigation claimed there were no death threats against him, implying that his flight to Australia had been unwarranted. And this is the way it rests as of the end of last week.  

This typical pattern of police reaction to accusations of corruption was set in stone some time ago.

The police reaction and measures taken in 1996 when the research findings of the Chulalongkorn team researching corrption were released, and the ensuing media and public counter-reaction to the initial police reaction were well-documented in the Nation's Chang Noi column reprinted in anthology form in 2009 (Chang Noi, 2009).

This so-called "Golden Pig" incident, named after the major gambling den revealed by a high-ranking officer himself, almost stands as an archetype for all subsequent police reactions to accusations of corruption.

Death threats, criminal complaint filings against the accusers and other various forms of harassment were employed. The prime minister eventually stepped in the affect a truce.

RECENT DRIVE FOR POLICE REFORM 

It might be argued that real improvements in police corruption have been made during the twenty years since the Chulalongkorn team's research work on police corruption, but once again the issues of transparency and accountability raise their heads. How can one be sure that there has been improvement when there is no transparency?

Ironically, some proposals for police reform focus on making the police department less transparent and accountable, specifically to parliament, in order to reduce the influence of powerful politicians on police investigations.

After the coup of 2014 a drive for police reform once again arose but in a weaker form than in the 1980s. Once again the issue disappeared with declarations that the police could reform itself.

If lack of transparency or accountability in police investigative operations is the key issue, does this really provide any hope for police reform in the future?

A recent revival in Thailand's police as a subject of academic research at least provides some hope (Arisa, 2013; Haanstad, 2008, 2013).

Bibliography 

Arisa Ratanapinsiri. 2013."A History of Police Reform in Thailand." in Knights of the Realm: Thailand's Military and Police, Then and Now, Chambers, Paul (ed.). White Lotus Press, Bangkok. 499-540 (see book review here).

Chang Noi. 2009. "The Police and the Golden Pig" in Jungle Book: Thailand's politics, moral panic, and plunder, 1996-2008, 55-58.

Haanstad, Eric. 2008. "Constructing Order Through Chaos: A State Ethnography of the Thai Police." PhD dissertation, University of Wisconsin-Madison,

Haanstad, Eric. 2013."A Brief History of the Thai Police." in Knights of the Realm: Thailand's Military and Police, Then and Now, Chambers, Paul (ed.). White Lotus Press, Bangkok. 447-498.

Pasuk, P. Sangsit P. 1994. Corruption and Democracy in Thailand. Bangkok: Political Economy Centre, Faculty of Economics, Chulalongkorn University.


http://www.iop.harvard.edu/fighting-corruption-india