The Metropolitan Police Bureau is investigating a suicidal-like complaint from a newly recruited policewoman that she was repeatedly abused physically and mentally during her first year of training, and is suffering from depression, according to the police spokesman.
Pol Lt Gen Archayon Kraithong, spokesman for the Royal Thai Police Office, said on Monday that the national police office was aware of the complaint posted online on Sunday night and ordered she be given assistance and an immediate investigation.
"We have learned that (she) is under the close care of her family and there has not been any adverse incident," the spokesman said.
He acknowledged that the police lance corporal was suffering depression and receiving treatment and appropriate medication. The spokesman said the investigation would be comprehensive and concluded without delay, and the national police office would then publicise the result of the probe.
Pol Lt Gen Archayon added that many police officers suffer from depression and under treatment at Police General Hospital. The national police office also provided counselling for depression via its "Depress We Care" page on Facebook and its hotline 081 932 0000, he said.
The police spokesman was responding to a Facebook post by Pol L/Cpl Chontaros Sukdayotin, 25, on Sunday night that said she had been abused during her first year after joining the police force.
According to the post – which sounded suicidal – she wrote that a colleague accidentally kicked her head in a camp.
After her treatment and return to her camp – Naresuan in Phetchaburi province – she was repeatedly punished physically and mentally by her trainers.
She was cursed and physically assaulted, she wrote. Her lower legs were beaten with ropes and she was ordered to do headstands. She was also forced to take night shifts and was unable to sleep as doctors advised.
After being injured, she again underwent treatment and could not return to the police service due to her mental illness, she wrote.
"I have done my best as a police officer. But no matter how much I try, I am still a patient. Thanks mostly to my police career, I have had depression. Today I have had enough. I wish such training would stop with my case. We should be trained to be tough, not to become sick," Pol L/Cpl Chontaros wrote.
She also wrote that she would hand all her assets to her mother and donate her body for medical study, before concluding her post with "farewell".
Acting national police chief Pol Gen Kitrat Panphet later visited the trainee policewoman at Police General Hospital. After the visit, he said the injury had occurred last year, and on Monday she could stand and not lose her balance and communicated well.
He had told her to report directly to him for her return to the police force after her recovery.
“She smiled when I told her I will wait for her to report to me and I am looking forward to that… I am confident that she still wants to be a police officer,” Pol Gen Kitrat said.
The Facebook profile picture of Pol L/Cpl Chontaros Sukdayotin