Thai police undereducated, corrupt

Thai police undereducated, corrupt

THAILAND: Police chief agreed on Tuesday with international
findings that his force was undereducated, underpaid and corrupt.

Gen. Sant Sarutanond told reporters Sunday's report released
by the Political and Economic Risk Consultancy (PERC) which said
Thailand's legal system was the worst in Asia after Indonesia was
true.

However Sant said the Thai police force was changing, with
personnel gradually becoming better qualified.

Sant said commissioned police officers should be earning
20,000 baht (US$471) per month to cover their expenses in large
cities, but they only received a starting salary of 6,000 baht
($141) per month.

On a scale of one to 10, Singapore was seen to have the best
legal and police system with a rating of 1.7, followed by Hong
Kong (2.9), Japan (3.67) and South Korea (4.83).

Of the countries which failed to reach the pass mark, Malaysia
was rated at 6.29, then Taiwan (6.33), Vietnam (7.08), India
(7.33), China and the Philippines (7.78), Thailand (7.96) and
Indonesia (9.83). --AFP