Asian Insider 28 May 2014 According to our correspondent within Thailand, one of the things Thaksin did when he was Prime Minister and what he has directed from abroad since he became a fugitive criminal was to position his family.
In addition he also positioned his relatives and cronies in positions of power. As a result, until the coup d’état, the Royal Thai Police were virtually inactive making no arrests and not investigating drive-by shooting and grenade attacks principally on the anti-government protesters.
It’s only since the announcement of the coup that raids, conducted by the military, with police ‘assistance’ have raided and uncovered several arms caches. Until then, the police were inactive. One of the moves made by General Prayuth immediately following his announcement of the coup was to remove and replace the more senior pro-Thaksin officials including the national police chief. The article below explains why the new national police chief has replaced 16 of his pro-Thaksin subordinates:
“He said the transferred officers had done nothing wrong but they might have problems to control operations in their areas.
“So, they have to step away and we have to find stronger officers to take charge for the time being.”
16 commanders transferred to ensure smooth peace-keeping operations: acting police chief.
The Nation Wednesday, May 28, 2014
Acting national police chief Pol Gen Watcharapol Prasarn Ratchakij said Wednesday that he ordered the transfers of one commissioner and 15 commanders to increase efficiency in police’s works to keep peace and order. Watcharapol gave the order Tuesday, reshuffling several provincial police and district station commanders. One of the transferred was the commissioner of the Provincial Police Bureau 3.
He said the transferred officers had done nothing wrong but they might have problems to control operations in their areas. “So, they have to step away and we have to find stronger officers to take charge for the time being,” Watcharapol said.
“Those who were transferred did not do anything wrong. But there may be some factors that allow new commanders to have more efficiency in keeping peace and order.” The Nation