Thai police to delete criminal records where suspects have been cleared

The assistant chief of the Royal Thai Police says the force will delete the criminal records of anyone who has been cleared of earlier criminal offences. Surachate Hakparn says this will remove the need for people to formally request that their records be deleted.

Currently, even when a case has been closed and a person cleared, investigation records remain on file in the Criminal Records Division. They are only deleted when the individual in question asks for this to be done. According to Surachate, the Royal Thai Police will now adopt a new policy of doing so voluntarily.

The Bangkok Post reports that many state agencies and private sector firms will conduct background checks on potential employees, including checking for criminal records. If investigation records remain on file, even after a person has been cleared, this could unfairly hinder their chances of being offered employment.

According to information from the Royal Thai Police database on April 28, the investigation records of 12.4 million people remain on file. Of these, the cases against 7.8 million have been concluded, either by prosecutors or by the court system.

The authorities will now begin to sort through the 7.8 million, identifying those whose cases have been dropped or where proceedings were stopped on orders of the prosecution, as well as those whose cases were dismissed by a court or who were found not guilty by a court, with no appeal filed.

SOURCE: Bangkok Post