Thread: Four senior police moved after assault on officer

Four senior police moved after assault on officer

Four senior police officers in this northeastern province, including the provincial chief, were yesterday reassigned to inactive posts following the assault of a junior policeman at Muang Yasothon police station while two supervisors looked on.
Published on September 7, 2007


Police spokesman Ronnarong Yangyuen said acting national police chief General Seripisut Temiyavej had ordered the transfers of Yasothon Police commander Lt-General Supan Prasertsom, Muang Yasothon superintendent Colonel Rojanawat Rattanareungpinyo, inspector Lt-Colonel Preecha Sarathi and Major Pijit Pijan to the Provincial Police Region 3 Office.

Supan's deputy, Colonel Sommai Kongwisaisuk, will become acting Yasothon Police commander, the spokesman said.

Seripisut also instructed Provincial Police Region 3 commissioner Lt-General Warasith Pornlert to set up a fact-finding committee and report back to him in 15 days. Seripisut also wants to be kept posted criminal-charge procedure in the case.

The move followed a protest on Wednesday by about 100 police officers, who were outraged over the daring assault on Sergeant Athit Daengdee and his supervisors' lack of action against the attackers.

The assault allegedly took place as Athit was apologising to Sathiraporn Naksuk, president of the Yasothon Provincial Administration Organisation, for reportedly slapping his teenage son's face during a concert on Saturday night.

Sangeum Boonchan, secretary-general of the Lawyers Council of Thailand, said the beating up of the officer in front of senior police was punishable by up to two years in jail or a fine up to Bt4,000. But whether this is regarded as an assault on an on-duty officer depends on evidence showing that Athit was serving a police shift at the time.

He said Rojanawat and Preecha, the two senior officers, could also be found guilty of negligence as they reportedly saw the assault and did nothing to arrest the attackers. He also urged Athit to be brave in filing a complaint against the senior officers and encouraged other high-ranking officers to support Athit in doing so.

Earlier yesterday, Supan, the Yasothon Police commander, told reporters that Rojanawat and Preecha had been transferred voluntarily to the Provincial Police Office, while Athit had been sent to work at the same office. The transfers were meant to defuse the situation and accommodate the case investigation to be led by his deputy, Colonel Chalee Thepa.

Chalee said his probe would take less than 10 days to wrap up before filing for prosecution.

Supan said that, while one suspect Udon Sarakham denied the assault charge, the other - unemployed Samut Prakan native Wiroj Jaiphrommuang, 29 - confessed to police that he had attacked Athit. Therefore, both were charged with verbally and physically assaulting a police officer while performing his duty.

Wiroj told reporters that he had kicked Athit senseless "to repay past favours."

Yasothon Governor Weerawit Wiwattanawanich, who was present when Supan addressed the media, said the incident should not have happened.

"If a policeman whose duty is to maintain public order and suppress crimes is beaten unconscious at his own station by some thugs, who else can members of the public rely on for their safety?" he said, while urging investigators to determine and punish those at fault.

A Muang Yasothon police officer, who asked not to be named, said his fellow officers were satisfied with the transfers outlined by Supan. He said Wednesday's protest was a sufficient move to restore police dignity, as it had attracted a lot of attention from senior officers.

A group of local residents went to the police station to present Athit with a flower basket with a card saying "You are Thai police, not a slave of the influential". Yasothon deputy commander Colonel Preecha Arkardwipat accepted the basket on Athit's behalf.

It was said that Athit was prohibited by superiors from giving any comment to reporters or meeting the well-wishers.


The Nation
YASOTHON

Originally Posted by Mid

"You are Thai police, not a slave of the influential".

Awaiting the usual comments ......

Editorial: Yasothon incident an utter disgrace

Officers' failure to act as one of their own was beaten at a police station shows the power of 'dark influences'


Published on September 9, 2007


It would have been beyond belief in many countries, but what happened at a Yasothon a police station a few days ago represents so much that is true about Thailand's law-enforcers and "dark influences". According to news reports, a local godfather and his men stormed into the station after his son had allegedly been assaulted by one of the officers. That officer reportedly was made to prostrate himself before the man but was still beaten unconscious by the gang while two of his supervisors looked on. After an uproar in the media, four senior police officers in the northeastern province, including the provincial chief, were transferred to inactive posts.


There were two sides to the story regarding what had happened. The man who sparked the controversy, Sathiraporn Naksuk, president of the Yasothon Provincial Administration Organisation (PAO), claimed the assaulted officer had slapped his son during a minor incident at a concert. The officer, Sergeant Athit Daengdee, insisted he had not mistreated the teenager, although some witnesses claimed there could have been physical contact as a result of a scuffle.

No matter what actually happened during the concert, what followed was an absolute disgrace. Athit was reportedly made to apologise to Sathiraporn in the most humiliating way, yet followers of the Yasothon PAO chief kicked him senseless in full view of the policeman's supervisors. The incident triggered a protest by scores of police officers on Wednesday, touching off a wider reaction in the media and throughout society. Officials at national police headquarters took action on Thursday, and one doubts whether they would have reacted had it not been for the protest and public outcry.

It's not every day that police are at the wrong end of abuse, yet what happened in Yasothon is symptomatic of the malaise plaguing one of Thailand's weakest and most corrupt institutions. The action taken by Sathiraporn and his men, while undoubtedly a gesture of extreme hostility towards the police, also underlines deep-rooted close relations between law-enforcement and "influential people", some of whom operate outside the realm of the law.

We see all the "extremes" in this case. A police assault on an innocent pedestrian would have gone unreported and unnoticed. Within more just law-enforcement systems, charges would have been filed to protect that citizen's rights and punish the wrongdoers. We can't expect that to happen in Thailand, where just a few years ago thousands of suspected drug-peddlers were shot dead in a sweeping campaign against the amphetamine trade.

Men like Sathiraporn could have filed charges, but he chose to take matters into his own hands. Yet while we were amazed by his audacity, we were more dumbfounded by the action - or non-action to be exact - of the assaulted officer's supervisors. Were they afraid of Sathiraporn? Why? Or did they owe him some gratitude? If so, why? But the most relevant question is the one which has been asked resoundingly: if a policeman whose duty is to maintain public order and suppress crime is beaten unconscious at his own station by thugs, who can members of the public rely on for their safety?

If Sathiraporn deserves to be punished to the fullest extent of the law for assaulting a police officer and trampling upon the dignity of the police force as a whole, how should Athit's supervisors be penalised? If we are correct about the depths to which the police institution has sunk, here is what is going to happen: the PAO chief will escape legal action, and Athit's bosses will remain on the force, the dignity of which they have failed utterly to protect, and it will be business as usual as soon as the public's attention subsides and the media's focus turns elsewhere.
No matter how many senior officials try to portray this incident as an exception, there's no escaping the fact that it's nothing but the tip of the iceberg. And no matter how outraged the public may feel, there is little doubt in the minds of the people that something nastier must be going on somewhere else. A police officer may have been the one on the receiving end this time round, but the force may have brought it upon itself. A system with any semblance of integrity would have held the likes of Sathiraporn back. The Yasothon incident, on the other hand, is a desperate cry for help from a system in a coma.

nationmultimedia.com