The Royal Thai Police has placed a ban on officers around the country from setting up mobile checkpoints manned by a few low-ranking staff who use them to collect traffic fines from which they receive a percentage of the money.
Effective immediately, only large checkpoints for security purposes and narcotic drugs suppression and medium-sized ones set up to enforce more serious traffic laws would be allowed, police spokesman Prawut Thavornsiri said on Thursday.
Pol Lt Gen Prawut said officers with a minimum rank of police major or inspector would be required to supervise these checkpoints. The names of the officers in charge of the checkpoints must be displayed clearly for the public to see. The officers must inform their superiors of the purpose and location of the checkpoints.
Officers who violate the new regulations will be transferred to an inactive post temporarily or moved to work elsewhere.
Pol Lt Gen Prawut said he expected the order to help restore public faith in police and ease criticism over the regulation that allows traffic cops to receive part of the money from the tickets they write.
He said he would propose that the RTP focus more on the use of traffic cameras to issue tickets to traffic offenders and that the limitation date of a ticket be extended from one year to three years.
He urged the public to send photographs or video clips of officers found to have breached the ban on mobile checkpoints to the RTP or contact the traffic police hotline at 1197.
The move came after a civic group, Help Crime Victims Club, last week presented a petition to police headquarters demanding an end to the controversial road checkpoints set up by low-ranking officers who hide on the roadside to catch offenders red-handed, a practice which created a danger to motorists. The group also demanded an end to the percentage of fines being given to traffic police, saying it encouraged indiscriminate traffic stops.
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