Royal Thai Police - Police Organization

Police Organization

The Thai police are subdivided into several regions and services, each enjoying their own powers.

• Royal Thai Police Headquarters - Bangkok
  • Director-General of Police - since 1998 the position was called "Commissioner-General of the Royal Thai Police"
• Border Patrol Police Division 40,000 paramilitary force
  • BPP General Staff Division
  • BPP Tactical Training Division
  • BPP Support Division
  • BPP Nawut Sondetya Hospital
  • BPP Village Scouts Center
  • BPP Counter-Insurgency Training Center
  • BPP Districts 1 through 4
  • Police Aerial Reinforcement Unit (PARU)
    • Airborne Training
    • Naresuan 261 Counter-Terrorism Unit (formerly the 4th Company PARU)
    • Sea Air Rescue Unit
• Central Investigation Bureau - national coordinating headquarters which assist provincial and metropolitan components in preventing and suppressing criminal activity and in minimizing threats to national security. Having jurisdiction over the entire country, the CIB was organized to assist both provincial and metropolitan components of the Royal Thai Police in preventing and suppressing criminal activity and in minimizing threats to national security.
  • Specialized units of the bureau, including the railroad, marine, highway, and forestry police, employed up-to-date technical equipment, law enforcement techniques, and training.
  • five other divisions and offices employed modern procedures to assist in investigating and preventing crime.
    • The Crime Suppression Division-one of the bureau's largest components—was responsible for conducting most of the technical investigations of criminal offenses throughout the kingdom. Its Emergency Unit coped with riots and other public disorders, sabotage, counterfeiting, fraud, illegal gambling operations, narcotics trafficking, and the activities of secret societies and organized criminal associations.
    • Special Branch — sometimes referred to by critics as the "political police", is responsible for controlling subversive activities and serves as the Thai Police's major intelligence organization, as well as the unit responsible for VIPs protection.
    • The Criminal Records Office collected and maintained records required in the conduct of police work, including dossiers and fingerprints of known criminals and persons suspected of wrongdoing .
    • the well-equipped Scientific Crime Detection Laboratory, technicians performed the requisite chemical and physical analyses.
    • Licenses Division registered and licensed firearms, vehicles, gambling establishments, and various other items and enterprises as required by law.
• Office of Immigration Bureau (under plan to separate from the Royal Thai Police to become independent authority)
• Narcotics Suppression Bureau
• Office Of Logistics
  • Aviation Division - operates the force's extensive fleet of helicopters and light aircraft.
• Office of Royal Court Security Police
  • Crown Prince's Royal Protective Unit
    • Crown Prince Royal Protective Unit 'Dechochai Knight 3'
• Provincial Police Division -

The Provincial Police formed the largest of the Royal Thai Police operational components in both manpower and geographic responsibility. It was headed by a commander, who reported to the police Commissioner-General, and administered through four police regions—geographic areas of responsibility similar to those of the army regional commands. This force provided police services to every town and village throughout the kingdom except metropolitan Bangkok and border areas. The Provincial Police thus handled law enforcement activities and in many cases was the principal representative of the central government's authority in much of the country.

During the 1960s and early 1970s, as the police assumed an increasing role in counterinsurgency operations, a lack of coordination among security forces operating in the rural areas became apparent. Observers noted that the overall police effort suffered because of conflicting organizational patterns and the highly centralized control system that required decisions on most matters to emanate from the various police bureaus of the (then) TNPD headquarters in Bangkok.

A reorganization of the TNPD in 1978 and 1979 gave more command authority to the four police lieutenant generals who served as regional commissioners of the Provincial Police. Thereafter, the senior officers of each region not only controlled all provincial police assigned to their respective geographic areas but also directed the railroad, highway, marine, and forestry police units operating there, without going through the chain of command to the Central Investigation Bureau in Bangkok. Although this change increased the workload of the four regional headquarters, it resulted in greater efficiency and improved law enforcement.

The Provincial Police Division is divided into 10 regions covering the 75 Provinces of Thailand except Metropolitan Bangkok and the border areas:

• • • Region 1 - Ayuthaya
    • Region 2 - Chonburi
    • Region 3 - Nakhon Ratchasima
    • Region 4 - Khon Kaen
    • Region 5 - Chiang Mai
    • Region 6 - Phitsanulok
    • Region 7 - Nakhon Pathom
    • Region 8 - Surat Thani
    • Region 9 - Songkhla
    • Southern Border Provinces Region - Yala
  • Chaiya Training
  • Special Operations Units
• 191 Special Branch Police
  • Arintharat 26 Special Operations Unit
• The Police Education Bureau of the Royal Thai Police was responsible for training police personnel in the latest methods of law enforcement and the use of modern weapons. It operated the Police Officers Academy at Sam Phran, the detective training school at Bang Kaen, the Metropolitan Police Training School at Bang Kaen, and the Provincial Police training centers at Nakhon Pathom, Lampang, Nakhon Ratchasima, and Yala. The bureau also supervises a number of sites established and staffed by the BPP to train its field platoons in counterinsurgency operations. These sites included a large national facility at Hua Hin and smaller facilities in Udon Thani, Ubon Ratchathani, Chiang Mai, and Songkhla.
• Tourist Police - uniformed personnel who lack police powers and are largely responsible for writing out reports for insurance companies for victims of theft. In more serious cases, they will translate reports to be passed on the normal police in Bangkok. Recently recruiting foreign nationals living in Thailand.
  • Training
• Immigration Police Division
• Marine Police Division
• Metropolitan Police Division, Bangkok - Responsible for providing all law enforcement services for the capital city of Bangkok and its suburbs, the Metropolitan Police was probably the most visible and publicly recognizable of all Thai police components. This largely uniformed urban force operated under the command of a commissioner, who held the rank of police major general and was assisted by six deputy commissioners. Organizationally, the force consisted of three divisions, each responsible for police services in one of the three urban areas: northern Bangkok, southern Bangkok, and Thon Buri. Together they accounted for about forty police precincts, which were patrolled around the clock. In addition to covering the city with foot patrols, the Metropolitan Police maintained motorized units, a canine corps, building guards, traffic-control specialists, and law enforcement personnel trained to deal with juvenile problems. The Traffic Police Division also provides mounted escorts and guards of honor for the king and visiting dignitaries and served as a riot-control force to prevent unlawful demonstrations and to disperse unruly crowds within the capital city.