By Pares Lohasan
The Nation
PATTANI
Published on April 1, 2010
Photo by Charoon Thongnual
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/home/20 ... 26084.html
As violence in the three southernmost provinces continues to ravage lives and properties, wearing people down with fear and stress, Thai security officials have come up with a new concept - the "monkey police."
And first recruit is a six-year-old simian security volunteer named Santisuk Phromdao, whose job involves duty at a local checkpoint and helping residents collect coconuts.
Santisuk was admitted to a local clinic with a broken arm mid last year but nobody came to claim him, said Sai Buri superintendent Pol Col Wanlop Jamnong-asa.
The precinct's Pol Corporal Yutthapol Phromdao Yutthapol adopted him and trained the monkey to collect coconuts for local people, each service being rewarded with a bottle of Vitamilk.
When Yutthapol went on checkpoint duty, he often took Santisuk with him. While many checkpoints had to contend with annoyed motorists, the post with Santisuk was a much happier place. Motorists willingly slowed their vehicles to play with the monkey and some even got out to take photos of it.
What's more, the monkey learned to have friendly conversations with both locals and the officers, he said.
Yutthapol said if people called its name, Santisuk would reply by nodding its head, winking and making a sound similar to "krup". Santisuk was also keen to sit on the patrol car's siren.
Many police stations in the region have shown interest in this new public relations idea and the superintendent is pushing for a pilot project in other areas, he added.
Acting abbot of Wat Thampawat Phra Wannathep Anantatho, who often uses Santisuk's coconut-collecting services, said the monkey helped police and locals get together. Many grow coconut trees and both Buddhist and Muslim farmers see the Santisuk idea as a possible way to save costs.
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