THAILAND’S WITNESS PROTECTION PROGRAMME
Mr. Kerati Kankaew＊

I. INTRODUCTION
Nowadays, we cannot deny that there are a large number of crimes. Undoubtedly, crimes areincreasing in number. This is caused by many factors as the world has been developing dramatically.
Technology and state-of-the- art invention play an important role in current crimes. Crimes have changed as
the world has developed. The more development in technology, the more sophisticated crimes. This surely
adds more difﬁculty for authorities to enforce the law. States cannot overlook this movement and in fact they
have to develop the law to protect our societies from those sophisticated crimes. Today, we have criminal law
as our weapon. To prove that a person has committed crimes, evidence must be clearly shown. Evidence canbe witnesses, documents and hard evidence. There is a serious problem when a witness does not want totestify against a criminal due to fear for his own safety or even his or her family’s safety.
The doctrine of “Witness Protection” comes from an idea to support criminal case proceedings. In thejudicial system, no matter what proceeding system a state uses, a judge is always the one who is capable ofruling a judgment. Evidence is the most important source for a judge to rule a case lawfully. A state has theduty to ensure that criminals must be sentenced according to the state’s law. To do so the state needs witnesses
to testify in a criminal proceeding; however, the state also has a duty to ensure and provide protection to thewitness. It is easy to understand that no one would want to do a thing for the state if, by doing so, it would
cause harm to himself or his family. If a state cannot enforce the law by bringing criminals to justice, its
citizens will not believe and trust in the state’s governing power, resulting in a failure socially or evennationally.

II. WITNESS PROTECTION
A. Meaning of “Witness Protection”“Witness” means a person who commits himself/herself to be present at, or give evidence to acompetent ofﬁcial for investigation, a criminal interrogation, a court for criminal proceedings, and includes
an expert but not a defendant who himself/herself is a witness.
“Security” means security in life, body, health, liberty, honor, property or any lawful rights of thewitness before or at the time of or upon becoming a witness.
“Witness Protection” therefore means the method providing to a witness ensuring his or her safety andhis or her family, including everything that he or she is entitled to have by law, in exchange for a witness’stestimony.
B. Objective of Witness Protection– For a competent ofﬁcer to understand the law and perform his or her duty efﬁciently.
– For a competent ofﬁcer to realize his or her authority and power imposed by law, in order for the ofﬁcer toperform the highest level of protection in each case.
– To predict the number of witnesses in criminal cases in the future by planning and ﬁnding solutions against
any potential obstacles beforehand.

* Deputy Chief Public Prosecutor, Pattaya Prosecutor Ofﬁce, Thailand.

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C. Method, Authority Power and Duty
The Law “the Witness Protection Act BE 2546” (2003) provides for two strategies.
1. General Provision Strategy
This is the more common strategy. According to the Section 6 of the Act, in a case where a witness
loses his or her security, a competent ofﬁcial from criminal investigation, interrogation, prosecution or theWitness Protection Bureau, as the case may be, shall desire for the witness protection measures as deemed
appropriate or as requested by the witness or other concerned party. Where necessary, the said person may
request a police ofﬁcer or other ofﬁcial for protection and this must be subject to the witness’s consent.
Protection measures may include arrangements for a safe place for the witness; or change of name/family name, domicile, identification, and information that would reveal the identity of the witness as
appropriate, and the personal status of the witness and the nature of the Criminal case.
The protection of witnesses in general doesn’t apply to the witness only but can also be used for thoserelated to the witness. In a case where a witness’s husband, wife, progenitor, descendant, or person with aclose relationship to the witness is affected by the person becoming a witness and would lose security, he/she
may request the competent official to design or arrange for measures as deemed appropriate, taking into
account the consent of that person.
Protection measures may include arrangements for a safe place for the witness; or change of name/family name, domicile, identiﬁcation, and information that would reveal the identity of the witness as deemed
appropriate, and the personal status of the witness and also the nature of the criminal case.
2. Special Protection Measures
A witness in the following [types of] cases may be eligible for the privilege of special protection
measures:– A case under the law on narcotic drugs, money laundering law, anti-corruption law, or customs law.
– A case related to national security under the Penal Code.
– A sexual offence under the Penal Code relating to the luring of a person for the sexual gratification ofanother.
– A criminal offence in the nature of organized crime under the Penal Code, including any crime committed
by a criminal group with a well-established and complicated network.
– A case punishable with at least ten years of imprisonment.
– A case that the Witness Protection Bureau deems appropriate to arrange for protection.
Whenever there are explicit circumstances or suspicion that a witness has lost his/her security, thewitness or other concerned party, a competent investigation official, competent interrogation official orcompetent criminal case prosecution ofﬁcial shall apply to the Minister of Justice or his appointed ofﬁcial toarrange for special protection measures, subject to the witness’s consent.
D. Special Witness Protection Detail
The Witness Protection Bureau shall arrange for one or more of the following special protection
measures:– A new place of accommodation.
– Daily living expenses for the witness or his/her dependents not exceeding one year, with extensions asnecessary for three months each time, not exceeding two years.
– Coordination with the relevant agencies in order to change the ﬁrst name, family name and information that
may contribute to knowledge of the personal identity of the witness, including arrangements for a return tooriginal status.
– Action to help the witness have his/her own career, and training, education and other means of proper
living for his/her life.
– Assistance or action on behalf of a witness for his/her lawful rights.
– Arrangements for a bodyguard service for a necessary period of time.

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– Other actions to assist and support a witness with his/her security as appropriate.
E. Possible Benefits
The Witness Protection ofﬁcial can utilize the information and knowledge acquired from protecting
the witness to further the case.
This would aid in the planning and determining the protection of the witness, making witness
protection more efﬁcient.
F. Principles for Witness Protection
The Witness Protection Bureau has rights and authority as follows:– Determine the necessity to authorize the use of Witness Protection for the witness.
– Specify or comment regarding the protection measures to be used.
– Set rules and regulations for the witness to follow while under protection and if witness violates any rulesthat would result in the termination of the witness protection.
– Determine which department or ofﬁcial would be in charge of providing protection to the witness and also
the location in which the witness would be protected.
– Determine the necessary weaponry, transportation, equipment and other utilities.
– Set a budget, and total funds to be used in providing protection to the witness.
– Set regulations and guidelines in requesting funds used in protection of the witness.
– Investigate and follow up on the witness protection and also on the expenses requested for the protection.
– Request the witness or any others related to give a statement or request further documentation/evidence toaid in the authorization of the protection of the witness.
– Delegate a sub-committee to pass judgment or carry out tasks set by the board.
– Assess and order the termination of a certain witness protection programme.
– Assess and order the modiﬁcation of the protection methods or of the regulations set.
– Assess and order the authorization of continued witness protection or terminate the witness protection.
– Assess and order the authorization or termination of witness protection authorized prior to new regulations
regarding witness protection in criminal cases.
G. Witness Protection Center
The Department of Special Investigations (DSI, a division of the Ministry of Justice) Regulations
regarding the Witness Protection in Criminal Cases gives authority to the Ofﬁce of Special Operations to be
the Witness Protection Center and has rights and authority as follows:– Administration and management of the Board of Witness Protection.
– Inspect the petition for witness protection ﬁled.
– Assess and offer comments to the Board of Witness Protection.
– Input and ﬁle data of witness protection.
– Coordinate and follow up on the witness protection.
– Collect and follow up on data received to be presented to the Board of Witness Protection for furtherassessment.
– Inspect and give opinion regarding the expenses of a witness protection such that it is appropriate and mostefﬁcient.
The Witness Protection Center is also responsible for ﬁling a petition regarding the reward budget andexpenses. It is also responsible for acquiring the necessary equipment, transportation, tools and other up-todate technology to be used in the witness protection and the training, development and improving of thestrategy utilized in witness protection.

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Data of Witness Protection
Number of Witnesses
YearUnder Protection
2004
1CompletedRemaining

102005154112006

404

2007

211

2008

11472009

1147

2010

25

025

Total

691455

Diagram showing procedures in obtaining protection

III. PROBLEMS, OBSTACLES AND POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS IN WITNESSPROTECTION
A. Problems and Obstacles in performing Witness Protection
Laws regarding witness protection in criminal cases were only recently established. This is because
witnesses in criminal justice cases usually have a problem of coming to court to testify or give false testimony
altering the truth due to the fear of their lives, possessions and that of close relations, by means of threats,
abuse from those who have direct impact from the case such as powerful ﬁgures, or relatives of the defendant
all of which effects the criminal justice process as justice is lost by not being able to bring the criminal to bepunished by law. Furthermore people who are to become witnesses and also the officials responsible forproviding protection of the witnesses’ do not fully understand the boundaries, the rights, authority and meansof witness protection as there is no clear procedures to follow. It requires ofﬁcials with experiences in witness
protection giving priority to the safety of the witness. The problem in offering witness protection can befurther categorized in two sections as follows:
1. Problems and Obstacles received from the Witness under Protection
In order to receive protection the witness must perform and live within certain sets of rules andregulations set prior to the protection being given, resulting in a change and discomfort to their normal life
causing witnesses to reach boredom if the court proceedings consumes large periods of time.
Witnesses under protection are given a sum of money as a reward and an allowance is given to those
closely related to the witness, the witness is also given an allowance used in purchasing food, paying for thelocation of stay, and other vital expenses in their daily lives. This can sometimes cause some witnesses to takeadvantage of requesting funds that are used in an inappropriate manner.
2. Problems and Obstacles faced by Witness Protection Ofﬁcials
There is lack of the man power to perform the protection voluntarily. This is because it is seen as
something that doesn’t require any skill, knowledge to perform, the commanding ofﬁcials also do not show a
lot of importance and care towards it. This job doesn’t provide progress in a government ofﬁcial’s career.
Also the lack of female ofﬁcials to perform the witness protection is a problem as DSI is currently faced withlarge numbers of female witnesses which is only proper if the protection was given by a female ofﬁcial.
There is also lack of the coordination between the investigating ofﬁcials and the witness protection― 95 ―

ofﬁcials, resulting in an inability for the protection ofﬁcials to predict the dangers that the witness could face
and the means to counter it. This also includes problems that could occur to the witness such as illness, family
related problems, ﬁnancial problems, mental health etc. as the protection ofﬁcial has to try to correct alone.1
No established training course or programmes are available to give knowledge to the witness
protection ofﬁcials. Currently ofﬁcials rely on their own experiences in operating the protection causing alack of standardized means of providing protection to witnesses.
Some operations require protection of the witness for a year, or many years before the witness is able
to testify in court, leading to the ofﬁcials becoming bored and unable to perform other tasks.
B. Possible Solutions– Define clear set of protocols regarding the payment for the expenses required in the operation, to theofﬁcials and the witness according to the rights by law. This is to ensure that the ofﬁcial is able to performtheir duties fully and able to control the budget for expenses for the witness with great efﬁciency.
– Provide support for the ofﬁcials in witness protection that shows great potential and knowledge in this ﬁeld
as it is a job that requires a lot of patience, good wit/senses, skilled in the art of conversation to talk to thewitness, and must be able to solve problems that had just occurred straight away. Provide a possible
progression in career as an incentive for the ofﬁcials to continue performing their job.
– Give the power for DSI officials to have a part in deciding and correcting problems of the witness inconjunction with the protection ofﬁcials. This is so that the problems that occur can be dealt with correctly,
not time consuming and suitable.
– Should provide a shift rotation of protection ofﬁcials so that ofﬁcials can also go on other operations andperform other duties as assigned by their commanding ofﬁcers and wouldn’t cause the ofﬁcials to becomebored in protecting the witness.
– Organize training for DSI ofﬁcials regarding the rules and regulations in Witness Protection and also ﬁeld
training in the methods and possible ways to protect witness, skills in proper handling of ﬁrearms to ensurea single standard in giving protection to witnesses.
C. Protection of Persons who provide Useful Information relating to Government Officers’ Corruptionin Thailand
Corruption of ofﬁcials in government agencies has long been a serious problem for Thailand; hence itis essential to ﬁnd the appropriate mechanisms and measures to solve this problem. Monitoring is one of theimportant rights of people in order to participate in this matter by reporting activities which involve
corruption. However, it relies on a person acknowledging and highlighting activities that are likely to be in
conﬂict with the public interest or of persons at a higher level within an organization which can be detrimental
to that person’s career.
Whistleblowing is not only an act of revealing a serious problem in the internal administration of anorganization, but also a tool that will bring evidence to legal proceedings of an accused. Nevertheless,whistleblowing comes with a high risk of retaliation for the whistleblower.
A signiﬁcant factor encouraging whistleblowing is the measure protecting those disclosing informationfrom any activities that may harm their lives, bodies and freedom and it will, deﬁnitely, help ensure people
enthusiastically reveal information. Moreover, the offering of benefits in addition to protection will be anadditional tool to persuade people to reveal information. Government must legislate and implement whistle

1 All Departments involved with witness protection, fall directly under the control of the Ministry of Justice. As witness protection
policies are relatively new to Thailand, the levels and channels of cooperation between the various departments involved, with theaspects discussed in this paper are still to a degree being developed. Many of the relationships between different Bureaus andDepartments are currently a little complicated and may go through more than one department, based upon personal contacts toachieve the desired result. More formal channels for inter department cooperation are currently being developed, which should
enhance the effectiveness of these programs in due course.

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blower protection law into practice which will, in time, create the environment to support whistleblowing.
People expect a well-organized system and procedure for whistleblower protection law, and if such exists,
people in possession of wrongdoing will feel safe to disclose information.
Unfortunately, currently the protection law is not adequate because a non-government agency must be
founded to create principles and policies for the process of protection and to play an additional role as anauthority to protect the whistleblower. It apparently seems that the prevention of corruption within anorganization requires the establishment of legislation for whistleblower protection, which will not only beneﬁt
the country in the development of proﬁcient skilled ofﬁcers to solve problems related to corruption and unity,
but also save the country’s resources (funds and human resources) by founding of a new non-government
agency to oversee whistleblower protection. Finally, it will be good for the country by helping to encourage
conﬁdence through the general populace in Government authority.
Thailand introduced legislation in 2008 to cover many aspects of corruption in Government agencies
with sections 53-57 focusing on protection of the Whistleblower. These sections allow the Office of theNational Anti-Corruption Commission to provide initial protection to a witness and grants authority forallocation of protection to an accused person, a witness or another involved party, as well as family members
or others closely known to the whistleblower who may be at risk. Allocation of funding to a protected party isdecided and allocated by a committee. In cases where the information is especially important or sensitive, thecommittee is empowered to take additional measures to ensure the reputation and credibility of the witness isalso assured, in addition to physical safety. In the case of Government employees where the nature of theinformation disclosed may prejudice their continued employment in the same role or ofﬁce, special measures
are available to ensure their career will not be adversely affected by their revelations. The act also allows forthe committee to allow a person who reveals information to be granted immunity from prosecution and to beentered into the witness protection programme. Penalties both ﬁnancial and custodial exist for any person
who reveals or discloses information about the identity or whereabouts of any protected person.

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