Internet users have come up with a simple suggestion that could have saved top police officers from embarassment. How about setting up a group chat among themselves before talking to the press? Such a collective means of communication would help make sure that they are on the same page when it comes to public communications.
Hopefully, it would also prevent top security officers, caught during a tense confrontation with protesters, from giving out conflicting information which could further inflame the sensitive situation.
The case in point is an admission by national police chief Adul Saengsingkaew on Wednesday that the men who smashed a health volunteer's car during Dec 26 clashes with protesters at the Thai-Japanese Stadium in Din Daeng were police officers.
Pol Gen Adul also conceded that black-clad men who were seen positioned on the rooftop of the Labour Ministry during the clashes were policemen.
The police chief's admission is decidedly late, coming six days after the event and following a widespread video clip showing the men, in police uniform, in the act of using their batons to repeatedly smash the windscreen of a car carrying the health volunteers.
His excuse that the police officers were on the hunt for suspects who shot dead a policeman and a protester is not good enough to defend such improper behaviour.
Pol Gen Adul's next challenge is what he will do once the result of a probe he had ordered into the incident is released.
If the police officers in question are found guilty, they must be dealt with strictly. Anything less than that is unacceptable.
If they are found not guilty, then the police chief will have to give a clear explanation as to why members of his force - riot control officers who are supposed to have been trained to behave professionally in the face of pressure and instigation - could be let off after being caught committing a violent act.
What is most worrying about Pol Gen Adul's admission, however, is that it has brought to light inconsistencies in the information that top police and security officers have offered to the public.
Immediately after the incident, Piya Utayo, spokesman for the police force and the Centre for the Administration of Peace and Order, said the men who were seen vandalising cars and motorcycles outside the Din Daeng stadium were protesters disguised as policemen.
A few days afterwards, Metropolitan Police Bureau commissioner Kamronwit Thoopkrachang tried to spin the incident away from the police, saying his men always act with honour, unlike thieves. The officer in charge of the situation at the Thai-Japanese Stadium, deputy police chief Pol Gen Worapong Chiewpreecha, also said it was not the police's way to resort to such a violent act.
Wrapping up the chorus of denial was Labour Minister Chalerm Yubamrung, who insisted that, according to his intelligence sources, the black-clad men seen on the rooftop of his ministry were not policemen but members of the protest group.
As suggested, the gap in information could be easily tackled. What is more pressing is the misinformation could belie more serious problems in the national police force, ranging from inadequate training for its riot control members, a lack of clear guidance from officers in charge of the situation and a possibility that the force is being politicised. The pressure is now on Pol Gen Adul to prove to the people that the law enforcement officers are professionals whom the public can depend on.