PHUKET: The Tachatchai Checkpoint never seems to function properly because there's no budget and no formal owner, a team of Phuket authorities discovered as they toured the facility today.

Vice Governor Jamleran Tipayapongtada and other officials learned that the Phuket administration paid for the checkpoint's construction six years ago and handed it to the Royal Thai Police but the facility's staffing and maintenance had never been properly funded.

It was more Cop Shock than Crock Shock when officials saw conditions for the officers who staff the checkpoint, and reached the quick understanding that the facility could never work properly without management and a budget.

There were no sheets for the beds of staff upstairs, and damaged toilets.

Motorists tend to treat the checkpoint as a bit of a joke because the statue of a policeman, provided by a tour company, sometimes seems just as animated as the live officers.

It's plain that a properly staffed and functioning checkpoint could increase Phuket's safety and security and choke off a lot of the illicit drugs trade.

Passersby hadn't realised until today that the checkpoint was not properly staffed and that there was no maintenance budget.

Mayor of Mai Khao Sarawoot Srisakukam, who has a role to play because the checkpoint is in his area, will next contact the Phuket Provincial Administrative Organisation.

Although the checkpoint is based in Mai Khao and the local council provided 24 million baht for recent expansion work, the checkpoint benefits all of Phuket and should be under the control of the PPAO, the touring officials figured.

"The most important thing is to determine who is responsible for this building,'' the vice governor said. ''Phuket Province gave this building to the Royal Thai Police, but they didn't register it as belonging to them, so it wasn't set up to belong to Royal Thai Police, and still has no owner.

''And it means no one organises the annual budget to look after the check point. The problems has lasted for six years.

''I am here today to check, and I don't think Royal Thai Police can handle the budget because the checkpoint costs a lot of money. The electricity bill is almost 100,000 baht a month. We need to find a solution.''