Bogus cop, broken heart

CHIANG MAI: Some women simply fall head over heels for a man in uniform. One love-sick Bangkok native, presumably with this in mind, found himself in trouble recently after impersonating a police officer in a bid to win the heart of a pretty Lanna girl.

According to the girl’s neighbors, her pursuer, calling himself Pol Maj Krittanan Rattaradee, moved in near her house in Sanpatong district and enjoyed parading around in his uniform telling people that he was there on top-secret business.

The neighbors, sensing that the behavior of the new resident was inappropriate for an officer on a secret mission, became suspicious that Maj Krittanan was not all he was claiming to be.

The trickery finally came to light when, somewhat foolishly, the lovestruck major began showing off his fake ID card, which showed him to be a police major based in Nakhon Ratchasima. One of the neighbors managed to get hold of the card and make a photocopy before returning it.

On the morning of August 11, a group of villagers headed to Sanpatong Police Station with the copy of Maj Krittanan’s ID card to check if he was really an officer of the law. On running the name through police databases, police found that there was no Maj Krittanan on record and the police department that the card stated Maj Krittanan belonged to had ceased to exist some time ago.

Crime Suppression Inspector Maj Suthep Jilo then accompanied the villagers to find Maj Krittanan. This proved easy and the group soon came across their quarry wandering down the Sanpatong-Mae Wang road dressed in full uniform.

On searching Maj Krittanan, police found not only the fake ID card and a plastic toy pistol he kept in his holster, but also a copy of the official stamp of the Governor of Nakhon Ratchasima.

After being hauled into the police station, Krittanan finally admitted that he was just a 36-year-old regular citizen from Pathum Thani, though Krittanan Rattaradee was indeed his real name.

He told police he had met a girl from Sanpatong when she had been living in Bangkok and he had instantly fallen for her. When she moved back to her home town, he followed her.

Every morning he would dress up in full uniform and walk past her house telling her he was off to work on secret business; every evening he would repeat the charade on his way home.

The only purpose he used the uniform and false ID for were to show off to the girl, Krittanan said. He did not explain why exactly he thought the major’s uniform would increase his chances with his sweetheart.

Regardless, police charged him with impersonating a government officer.