Policing the Police: New Unit Assigned to Traffic Cops
Phnom Penh’s traffic police officers, whose reputation for bribe taking is renowned, will soon be monitored by a new mobile police unit to ensure they uphold the law, the Ministry of Interior said. The Special Team Monitoring Traffic Law Enforcement will ensure that traffic police are not setting up “anarchic” checkpoints; are at their posts; are documenting traffic accidents; are correctly implementing the law; and are not damaging the reputation or honor of the national police, the ministry said in a statement dated February 7. … The statement provides few details other than identifying Colonel Heng Chantheary, Phnom Penh’s deputy police chief and former chief of the city’s traffic police, as heading up the new unit. Col. Chantheary declined to comment on his new job Monday. … Traffic police officers stationed along Norodom Boulevard on Monday said that they were not worried because they follow the law at all times anyway. … An official at Transparency International (TI) Cambodia, which monitors corruption, said the monitoring team could work, but its success depends more on how it will operate. “If [those on the team are] secretly assigned, it may have more effect in the sense of scaring other police not to commit corruption or take bribes,” said TI Cambodia Executive Director Preap Kol. …
Khuon Narim and Joshua Wilwohl
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/policing-the-police-new-unit-assigned-to-traffic-cops-51859/
