Phuket gets dedicated “rape case’ police officer

PHUKET: Phuket now has a female police officer dedicated to handling rape and sexual assault cases, Phuket Provincial Police Commander Pekad Tantipong confirmed yesterday.

Speaking at the quarterly meeting of Phuket’s honorary consuls and top officials on the island, Maj Gen Pekad confirmed that the officer is stationed at Phuket City Police Station and is on call to handle cases involving allegations of rape and sexual assault.

The news was much welcomed by British honorary consul Martin Carpenter and Australian honorary consul Larry Cunningham, who have both long championed a police ‘sex crime’ unit being established on Phuket.

Mr Carpenter asked Maj Gen Pekad specifically how the officer would be involved in handling reports of sex crimes.

Maj Gen Pekad replied, “The female officer has the authority to go to any police station in Phuket to investigate sex crime cases, such as sexual assault in Patong.”

“She will help with the handling of sex offense cases involving female tourists,” he said.

Mr Cunningham praised the move, saying, “I would like to thank the commander for having an officer dedicated to these cases, especially considering the number of sexual assault cases in Patong.

“Also, in many incidents the victim of a sexual assault has to go home [to her home country] because there is no one she is comfortable talking to here,” he said.

“So, hopefully, they will now feel comfortable talking to an officer who is going to push their cases, and the terrible men committing the crimes might think twice before they try to do it to anyone else,” he added.

— Atchaa Khamlo