Traffic in some areas of Bangkok on Sunday was unusually busy as the police force was holding entrance exams. Those who pass are bestowed the rank of police constable.
The Royal Thai Police wants to recruit 10,000 officers to help solve a manpower shortage. This year's exam is highly competitive with 278,058 applicants.
By contrast, students sitting entrance exams for university this year were up against much less competition, with 122,169 applicants vying to fill 82,102 seats.
Given the stakes involved, it's no surprise that a police exam cheat gang has been arrested with 10.5 million baht of money. Applicants were asked to pay 350,000 baht. The exam results were revoked due to the scam.
That's a pity for honest applicants whose dreams were shattered by the bad guys who are not smart enough to be recruited on their own merits.
My question is whether the rank of police constable is the final goal for those who pass the exam. I guess not, as this is just the lowest rank. Generally, everyone has a goal to move up the career ladder to a higher position.
If we take a close look at those who have been through the police system, their lives are quite miserable.
I know a 50-year-old senior sergeant-major who has worked hard in his career of almost 30 years. Last year he was preparing for an exam to be promoted to police captain.
He had to seek tutoring and spent around one year preparing himself.
I was not really happy with him studying so diligently for the exam because this meant he was partly ignoring his duty of being a police officer who should be taking care of the public.
He found studying an uphill task, as age has naturally diminished his ability to study.
But in another sense, I understood his determination to get a higher rank. He has worked much longer than his boss, a newly graduated junior sub-lieutenant officer who has almost no experience.
For a police senior sergeant-major, regardless of how hard he has worked, he still occupies a lower rank.
The goal of most officers is to get a star to wear on their shoulder.
This is not just a promotion to a new rank and higher salary, it's also important for social status and pride at work.
The little star is very meaningful to many low-ranking police.
The Royal Thai Police Office has issued a regulation allowing officers at the rank of senior sergeant-major, aged 53 and above, to receive training to become a sub-lieutenant, to help combat its manpower shortage.
Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra presided over a ceremony on last Wednesday to bestow ranks on 1,200 new sub-lieutenants. Nationwide, 25,940 officers were given new ranks.
Next year, 5,553 will be promoted under this system, and in 2014, 5,857.
At the ceremony last week, some sub-lieutenant officers were in tears, so happy were they to have finally achieved their dream. For some it was the culmination of around three decades in the field, where in some cases they risked their lives to protect the public.
However, around 200,000 officers in police stations nationwide are still stuck with the same rank because they were unable to pass the exam.
This brings me to the justification of the current system.
If there is a senior sergeant-major who has worked hard to help solve criminal cases but is not good at studying, should he be rewarded with a promotion based on what he has done for the public?
I support the application of the Key Performance Index (KPI) as criteria for awarding promotions.
An officer who has helped the public but who might lack academic ability should be promoted, rather than those who are good at studying but rarely take good care of people in their areas.
If the KPI was introduced as a way to award promotions, a good senior sergeant-major could earn a star without having to wait until he is 53.
It may also help improve the quality of police as they will pay more attention to their work rather than having to study textbooks to get ahead.
Somporn Thapanachai is Deputy Business Editor, Bangkok Post.