BURI RAM: A deputy police chief in this northeastern province says he has been waiting 'for years' for the funds to repair the dilapidated living quarters of low-ranking police officers at Nong Song Hong police station in Muang district.
The poor condition of two wooden, one-storey buildings with a total of nine small rooms at the station has drawn public attention since photos were posted on social media and went viral.
Many netizens expressed sympathy for non-commissioned police officers who lived there. One Facebook user wrote “ We really want Big officers in Khaki uniforms to come to look into the plight of their subordinates at Nong Song Hong police station’’.
Pol Col Rutthaphon Naowarat, deputy chief of Buri Ram police, says police commanders have been actively seeking funds to repair rundown living quarters for their subordinates for years. (Photo by Surachai Piragsa)
Pol Col Rutthaphon Naowarat, deputy chief of Buri Ram police, admitted the living quarters for police officers at the station - built more than 50 years ago - were old and rundown. There were originally three wooden, one-storey row buildings, but one had deteriorated so badly it had been demolished.
Police officers lived in similar conditions in other provinces, he said. Buri Ram police authorities had applied to the Royal Thai Police Office every year for funding to improve facilities, he said - to no avail.
Some 18 million baht was allocated to build a new three-story main building for the Nong Song Hong police station, which was completed two years ago, but no money was forthcoming to repair the station's living quarters, Pol Col Rutthaphon said.
He insisted senior police were not passively accepting the poor living conditions of their subordinates and kept on seeking funds every year. He said he would continue to press for a budget to repair living quarters at Nong Song Hong police station and other stations in this northeastern province.