The pace of the investigation into the gruesome murder of an impoverished woman in Sa Kaeo is rapidly eroding the credibility of the police.
Buaphan Tansu, a mentally unstable woman, was found dead on Jan 12 in Aranyaprathet district. Severe bruises on her body suggested the 47-year-old had been violently assaulted.
The case was initially treated by local police as one of domestic violence that resulted in the woman's death. The next day, they got hold of her husband, Panya Khongsaengkham, who, according to police investigators, confessed to killing his wife out of anger. Police bypassed forensic tests, treating it like an open and shut case.
Which probably would have been the end of it, had not a Channel 8 TV team dug deeper into the story after finding some inconsistencies in Mr Panya's confessions.
With journalistic inquisitiveness, they rechecked the CCTV footage -- the same footage the Aranyaprathet district police had obtained earlier -- surrounding the crime scene. Their findings countered police investigation reports. The real killers turned out to be a group of five teens aged 13-16. Two are sons of police officers in Sa Kaeo. The teens are reportedly the leaders of an infamous gang that has around 30 members.
The gang's track record has stunned the public. This week, a number of victims came forward and disclosed the gang's misbehaviour, including frequent street fights, sexual harassment and even alleged rape. The police tolerance for such crimes is incomprehensible.
In one case, a young man was attacked with a knife while his motorcycle was burnt about seven months ago. He filed police complaints, but no action was taken. The culprits remain free, while Aranyaprathet seems to be approximating a lawless land.
With regard to Buaphan's killing, a few audio clips and photos demonstrated the blatant mishandling of the case by the local district police. Scapegoating and torture, despite the Anti-Forced Disappearance and Torture Act, still seem to be routine practice. Meanwhile, some officers helped conceal their colleagues' misdeeds by omitting the use of torture in their official reports.
Penniless and suffering from a drinking problem, Mr Panya probably looked like the perfect scapegoat. He recounted later how he had been coerced into making a false confession. In one clip, an officer told his colleague the torture was "just for fun". But in reality, the man's early confession may have saved his life.
Under intense public scrutiny, the Royal Thai Police ordered a probe into the implicated officers. Some have already been transferred.
Yet more than a week has passed, and the RTP has not offered a public apology.
In an apparent bid to downplay the misdeeds, deputy police chief Pol Gen Surachate Hakparn stated that the officers involved had simply been careless, as they "wanted to close the case in a very short time". They accidentally arrested the wrong man, he said, insisting they had no hidden agenda. But by any standards, torture is inexcusable.
Such "carelessness", as claimed by Pol Gen Surachate, effectively strips the RTP of its reputation and credibility. Lawbreaking by state officers must be taken more seriously, without compromise.
Over the years, the RTP has been tainted with scandals that seem to never end, from the hit-and-run case involving a Red Bull family scion, to connections with Chinese mafia, and graft and extortion. The force keeps hitting new lows. With such repeated mistakes, long-overdue reform seems like a pipe dream.