Phuketwan on the Economy and Crime
CRIME is growing on Phuket in 2009 and the island's small police force is at full stretch, the Phuket Police Commander, Major General Apirak Hongtong, said today.
His comments came after a Thai man aged about 40 was shot dead around 10pm last night in a killing on Sakdideat Road, which runs between Phuket City and Cape Panwa.
At this stage, details of the killing are sketchy.
Major General Apirak told Phuketwan that last night's shooting death meant that there were now four outstanding Phuket murder investigations, with two of the killings involving expat residents.
Arrest warrants naming the suspects have been issued in the case of the murder of a Canadian property developer in Patong and the death by battery of a British man in his shophouse home-office near Tesco Lotus supermarket in Phuket City, Major General Apirak said.
He admitted there had been a spate of major crimes since the professional assassination of Farang brand restaurant proprietor Chid ''Kit'' Raknang on his Farang 2 premises on January 18.
Major General Apirak was not prepared to speculate as to the cause of the spate, although many island residents fear the economic downturn may generate more crime.
But Major General Apirak did make the point that the island's small police force is being stretched to cope with the murders, as well as other crimes.
Major General Apirak is due to be transferred back to Ranong at the end of the month. His replacement has yet to be named.
As with many other problems on Phuket, the number of police the island needs is calculated on the official number of residents.
Because many workers from other parts of Thailand fail to register on Phuket, the island has a police force based on a population of 320,000 people.
The actual number of Thai residents is over 600,000, with tourist visitors boosting that figure to close to a million in some months.
Major General Apirak has used volunteers to boost law enforcement and overseen a dramatic reduction in road deaths in 2008.
But the worldwide economic downturn of 2009 is expected to pose new challenges as more people around the globe are thrown out of work.
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