New chief bans police from golf courses

BANGKOK (AFP): Thailand’s newly appointed police commissioner, General Sant Sarutanond, has banned senior officers from playing golf, saying they were shirking their duties by spending hours on the fairways. “Many police commanders are ignoring their responsibilities by going to play golf and passing all their duties to subordinate officers, which is not proper behavior,” he said in a directive released yesterday. “They must be prepared to perform their duties, give service to the public, and devote themselves to problem solving and situational decision making,” he told commanders at every police station in the country. Sant said that in order to boost efficiency and regain public confidence, top cops caught swinging a club in defiance of the order would face disciplinary charges. “As of now, it’s absolutely prohibited for police to enter a golf course,” he wrote in summing up his directive.