The Royal Thai Police Office (RTPO) must step up its crime prevention and suppression operations in flood-hit communities. As a large number of people have left for temporary shelters, burglars are roaming several flooded neighborhoods looking for valuables and anything that they can sell.
We condemn these thieves, who are rubbing salt into the wounds of flood victims. As all districts in Bangkok are likely to be flooded this month, the Metropolitan police should mobilize marine police to patrol residential areas that are considered prone to burglary.
All Bangkok police stations have already assigned their personnel to support the flood-relief operations during the past two months. They join forces with soldiers and volunteers to conduct search-and-rescue operations and bring the sick and elderly to hospital.
The extra workload has affected the routine work of the City police. Complaints have been made about the absence of regular police patrols in some parts of Bangkok that are not flooded.
The RTPO may solve this problem by setting up a hotline manned by personnel attached to its headquarters in Bangkok. Rapid deployment units may be set up to respond to cases of emergency. This way, members of the public will feel more secure and not be afraid that burglars will break into their homes.
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