BANGKOK: A senior officer at Metropolitan Police Division 3 is under investigation after reportedly endorsing a university course to train Chinese police volunteers and approving the issuance of ID cards bearing the police logo.
Pol Lt-General Sayam Boonsom on Thursday (Jan 2) ordered Pol Maj-General Kiartkul Sonthinane, commander of the third division, to investigate a police colonel.
The name of the police colonel, who heads the investigation sub-division of the third division, is being withheld pending further investigation.
The probe was prompted by a post from People’s Party MP Sasinan Thamnithinan on X (Twitter), in which she asked why the Royal Thai Police was training Chinese nationals as police volunteers and charging them 38,000 baht (US$1,000) each.
She asked in the X post whether training Chinese tourists as police volunteers was lawful, and wondered where the budget from the training was coming from and where the so-called tuition fees were going.
She also questioned whether the RTP was allowed to issue police volunteer cards bearing the police logo to Chinese tourists.
Sasinan said she became aware of the controversy through a source and later shared the photo of an ID card for “members of the crime and traffic news informant network”, known as police volunteers.
The ID card, which is valid for two years, features a police logo and is signed by the chief of the investigation sub-division of the Metropolitan Police Division 3.
The MP also posted a detailed schedule of the three-day training course, which included shooting practice on the second day and a graduation ceremony on the third day. The course allegedly ran from Dec 25 to 27.
According to a police source, an initial investigation conducted by Kiartkul found that the so-called training course had been organised by a well-known university in Thonburi.
The university allegedly invited officers from the Metropolitan Police Division 3 to deliver lectures. The source said Kiarticul is continuing to investigate the selection criteria for the police volunteers and the issuance of their ID cards. - The Nation/ANN
