Newly installed Region 2
police commander Lt. Gen. Kawee Suphanant (top of stairs) expressed his
discontent with the lack of cleanliness at Pattaya Police Station.
Boonlua Chatree
Newly installed Region 2 police commander Lt. Gen. Kawee
Suphanant wasted no time in slapping down on his highest-profile police
station, dropping in on Pattaya’s headquarters to find dirty jail cells
and flooded toilets.
Arriving after midnight Oct. 5, Kawee appeared visibly disgusted as he
stormed out of the dirty and stinking restrooms only to find the
second-floor jail just as unpleasant. An embarrassed Pattaya
Superintendent Lt. Col. Suwan Cheaonawinthawat, who scrambled out of his
Soi 9 apartment to meet his boss, was told to immediately clean the
entire station.
Kawee had been on-site earlier in the day to dispatch 300 officers for a
publicity crime sweep, but rain put a damper on those plans, leaving the
commander to simply dispense his philosophy of what a professional
police officer should look like.
Accompanied by Chonburi Superintendent Maj. Gen. Khatcha Thatsart and
Pattaya Mayor Itthiphol Kunplome, Kawee told officers to dress neatly,
tuck in their shirts and wear red whistles around their neck.
Station officers should look alert, act caring to the demands of
citizens and access information with utmost expertise. Patrol officers
should be good communicators and have the ability to talk with
foreigners, he said.
And, most of all, the police station itself must look clean and
professional. Pattaya’s station obviously is off to a bad start.
As Suwan gave the regional commander a tour during his snap inspection,
Suwan was grilled over media reports about foreign mafia gangs in the
city. The police chief answered that he didn’t believe foreign gangsters
were operating freely under his jurisdiction. He pledged, of course, to
arrest any that are found.
