PW_4_2024
Professional Development
Thai Police Engagement Weekend Olly Button , Region 8 (Norfolk)
Back in May I received an email asking if I would like to join a small team of Section UK members to help host 10 Thai police officers at Fox Road HQ and it did not take me long to reply as I jumped at the chance to head out from Norfolk and build relationships with police officers from across the world. O ver the weekend of 6-7 July the hosting team and Thai officers gathered at Fox Road HQ in Nottingham. They had travelled to Nottingham from all corners of the country, from Stirling to
Brighton. The majority of these young Thai officers had attended the exclusive Armed Forces Academies Preparatory School before moving onto their police training at the Royal Police Cadet Academy near Bangkok. After becoming warranted police officers at Lieutenant and Captain ranks, they have been given the opportunity to study various degrees at universities across the UK before returning to resume their police work in Thailand. Under the leadership of VP Karen Duckworth a busy schedule of activities and learning was organised for the weekend. After brief introductions over a cup of tea we headed across to Trent Bridge cricket ground. We received a tour of the pavilion, stands and ground hosted by Austin (a retired Notts police officer). For all of the young Thai officers it was a fascinating visit, from a country where Thai boxing is the national sport, most had never heard of cricket. Of particular interest was the control room where we saw the CCTV system and discussed how the ground stewards, supported by the police, deal with anti-social behaviour and public order situations. Despite being in between two important T20 fixtures we were able to walk around the pitch and see it being prepared for Sunday’s match between Notts Outlaws and Birmingham Bears. The afternoon saw Fox Road host two detectives from Staffordshire Major Investigation Team. First up was a case study of a recent tragic murder case by the SIO of the investigation. All aspects of the case were discussed and analysed including the initial call into the emergency services, the attendance of officers at the scene, the gathering of evidence and subsequent apprehension of the suspect. This brought up some interesting learning points around scene preservation that the Thai officers could take back to their own force.
We then received an input from an Interview Advisor and Family Liaison Officer on interview strategies and tactics. All of the Thai officers were returning to their force as ‘Inquiry Officers’ so it was immediately obvious that this afternoon’s input was of great interest with lots of questions posed and notes being taken. The day was rounded off by a presentation on the work of the British Transport Police by one of the hosting team, DI Babatunde Adeyeye.
8
POLICE WORLD Vol 69 No.4, 2024
Made with FlippingBook Ebook Creator