October 1, 2023: Even if Pol Gen Torsak Sukvimol wants to do something, he will have too little time for that. Bad news is that he is not the first seat-warmer for his instant successor at the Police Department. Worst news is that the successor will be the same for the next one in line, and so on.
It has been this way for the Police Department, and some other significant top positions. People are selected to head their organisations only ceremonially or to give a retiring person one last “honour”. It is probably a good payback for a long service and it can even be a good tradition at an organisation with solid integrity and stability.
For an organisation like the police that requires bravery, revolutionism and supreme activeness, it’s a bad practice discouraging creativity, reformist drive and promoting going-with-the-flow attitudes from top to bottom. How many police chiefs Thailand have had over the past few years? Most people can’t even give the names in a correct order.
A lot of things need to be done at the Police Department, but Pol Gen Torsak will be too preoccupied with impending retirement and the government along with the police committee will a few months from now start worrying not about what he plans to do but about how and where to locate a successor.
Daily updates of local and global events by Tulsathit Taptim
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