AMBASSADOR'S JUNE 21 MEETING WITH THAI POLICE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BANGKOK 003503

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EAP/MLS, INL FOR BOULDIN

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/25/2017
TAGS: PGOV PREL KDEM PHUM ASEC TH
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR'S JUNE 21 MEETING WITH THAI POLICE
CHIEF SEREEPISUTH

REF: A. BANGKOK 03402 (DOUBLE SECRET LEGISLATION: THAI
SECURITY ACT PENDING?)

B. BANGKOK 03378 (SOUTHERN VIOLENCE: NEW VIOLENCE
STATISTICS MORE DEADLY AMBUSHES)

C. 06 BANGKOK 07501 (THE NEW PUSH FOR THAI POLICE
REFORM)

Classified By: Ambassador Ralph L. Boyce. Reason 1.4 (b,d)


1. (C) Summary. In a meeting with the Ambassador on June
21, National Police Commissioner Sereepisuth acknowledged the
difficulty of the southern situation, dismissed radical
reform ideas for the police and judged anti-government
protests as "finished." Sereepisuth welcomed new bilateral
training initiatives, but did not propose any specific areas
to focus on. The Ambassador explained the decision to place
Thailand on the Special 301 Priority Watch List and urged
Sereepisuth to continue new efforts to crack down on both
producers and retailers of pirated goods. End Summary.


2. (C) The Ambassador hosted a lunch meeting with National
Police Commissioner Sereepisuth Taeneeyaves on June 21 to
discuss a range of issues. Sereepisuth, who took the top cop
job in January, was accompanied by his Foreign Affairs Chief,
MAJ GEN Visanu Prasattongsoth.

SOUTH
--------------


3. (C) The Ambassador asked Sereepisuth for his view of the
situation in the troubled South. Sereepisuth admitted that
the task facing the police in the South is very difficult,
but said that the RTG understands the challenges at hand. In
Sereepisuth's opinion, the RTG must focus on implementing the
conciliatory policy of the Surayud government while improving
administration of the southern provinces. This will lead to
a gradual improvement in the situation. Sereepisuth
referenced the importance of using tactics honed during the
anti-communist campaigns of the 1970s against the insurgents,
but noted that local commanders were too young to remember
the lessons of that era.


4. (C) For the police, Sereepisuth said that success will
depend on effective follow through on individual cases.
Local cops need strong leadership and willpower to run down
every case, from the investigation to the prosecution phase.
He pointed to the recent arrest of eight alleged bomb makers
allegedly responsible for the May Hat Yai bombings as a
successful example of this approach. Sereepisuth
acknowledged that increasingly effective ambushes of security
officials (ref B) are a major challenge to police morale but
hoped that new efforts to install closed circuit television
cameras (CCTV) in that region will lead to more arrests and
prosecutions.

RALLIES IN BANGKOK
--------------


5. (C) The Ambassador noted the careful restraint of police
officials in their response to recent rallies. Sereepisuth
characterized the anti-government protests in Bangkok as
"finished." While heavy rains had led to lower attendance,
this just proved that the protesters were not "true
believers" and that opponents of the government could not
organize enough people.

POLICE REFORM/ISOC
--------------


6. (C) When asked about police reform efforts (ref C),
Sereepisuth dismissed radical plans to restructure his
forces. The individual in charge of the efforts is a retired
police official who "doesn't understand the police."
(Comment: Sereepisuth was referring to Vasit Dejkunchorn, a
highly regarded retired senior police officer who was
hand-picked by PM Surayud to oversee police reform. He has a
reputation as brilliant and uncorruptable. Sereepisuth said
Vasit, who has published many books and writes a newspaper
column, had his "head in the clouds" whereas he, Sereepisuth,

BANGKOK 00003503 002 OF 002


had his "feet on the ground.") Sereepisuth pointed at his
own, long rise through the police ranks as providing the type
of expertise needed to address this issue. He was
particularly dismissive of suggestions that the police be
broken up into local forces administered by individual
provinces. "What happens if criminals leave one province and
move to another?" Sereepisuth also referenced his efforts as
the top cop in Chonburi province against a notorious mob
boss, suggesting that decentralized police commands could be
seduced by local crime figures. Sereepisuth denied having
specific knowledge of the draft Internal Security Act, which
appears to provide the military--via the Internal Operations
Security Command (ISOC)--with a host of law enforcement
powers. (Note: MAJ GEN Visanu told us separately that top
police officials are concerned with the draft law and "trying
to understand it." End Note.)

BILATERAL TRAINING
--------------


7. (C) Sereepisuth acknowledged the long history of U.S.-Thai
bilateral law enforcement training programs. The Ambassador
highlighted the coming visit of an INL team to explore new
areas for cooperation. Sereepisuth welcomed new initiatives,
but did not specific areas to focus on (Note: We are
following up with Sereepisuth's staff on this issue. End
Note.)

BANGKOK BOMB INVESTIGATION
--------------


8. (C) The Ambassador noted the apparent lack of progress in
the investigation of eight bomb attacks in Bangkok on New
Year's Eve 2006. Sereepisuth explained that the police had
CCTV footage of suspects at several of the blast sites that
provided potential leads, but investigators had not yet
identified the suspects in that footage.

IPR
---


9. (SBU) Turning to intellectual property rights (IPR)
issues, the Ambassador explained that USTR's recent decision
to place Thailand on the Special 301 Priority Watch List was
the result of concerns over an apparent laxity in Thai
enforcement on this issue. The Ambassador noted
Sereepisuth's personal involvement in a raid in April and
congratulated him on the June 20 raid on an optical disk
plant. The Ambassador encouraged Sereepisuth to keep after
not only retailers, but also the producers of pirated and
counterfeit goods. Sereepisuth highlighted the recent raid
as an example of how his forces are cracking down on
manufacturers; two producers were among those arrested on
June 20.
BOYCE