Application process to be reviewed, fixed
National police chief Pol Gen Damrongsak Kittiprapas has ordered a panel to amend the commissioned officer application process following reports on the swift rise of a young female police officer from a lance corporal to captain in less than two years.
National police spokesman Pol Lt Gen Archayon Kraithong said Pol Gen Damrongsak had acknowledged the issue, which more broadly involves concerns over high-profile individuals and celebrities becoming commissioned officers after enrolling in a 17-week training course.
Pol Gen Damrongsak has assigned Pol Lt Gen Kittirat Phanphet to set up a panel to amend the regulations concerning the admission and promotion of commissioned police.
“The eligibility for commissioned officers will have to be transparent. The recruitment must meet police divisions’ demands, and the force will offer more places for commissioned officers to police who are non-commissioned,” said Pol Lt Gen Archayon.
The panel will also look into training courses certified by the police, which allow non-commissioned police to be promoted to commissioned officers once training is completed.
Pol Lt Gen Archayon stated that the 17-week training course was originally offered to children of deceased commissioned officers who would like to be eligible to be commissioned officers.
The course is also offered to people from various fields, whose skills are in demand by the police force, he added.
Last week, the “Phuen Tamruat” Facebook page posted how one woman who did the course started as a police lance corporal in late 2021, only to be promoted to sub-lieutenant two months later.
The woman, believed to be in her 20s, became a lieutenant in June last year and then captain earlier this month.
On Sunday, former politician Chuvit Kamolvisit posted on Facebook that another young woman rose in rank within an unusually short period.
She has a luxurious lifestyle and often travels abroad, which a police salary could not match, he said.
Move Forward Party spokesman Rangsiman Rome said that the MFP would probe the eligibility of those enrolled in the training course.
Mr Rangsiman said he is reviewing previous years’ lists to gather evidence on alleged bribery and corruption in the unusual recruitment of commissioned officers.