The Royal Thai Police have announced the launch of a program to facilitate the clearing of the criminal records of those either acquitted in court or who have had their cases dropped by public prosecutors, so that they can resume their normal lives and apply for employment without problems.
Currently, such people have to file petitions with the Police Clearance Service Centre to have their criminal records expunged, after which they are issued with a “clearance certificate”.
Assistant to the National Police Chief Pol Lt-Gen Surachate Hakparn said today (Tuesday) that this old process places the burden to the petitioners. To end this, the names of these people will now be removed from the records once they are cleared by a court or by public prosecutors of any wrongdoing.
According to criminal records, as of April 28th, 7.8 million court cases, out of 12 million, have been finally judged by the courts, he said, adding that police have been instructed to keep track of these cases, and prosecutors’ final orders not to pursue cases, so the records of those found not guilty are erased from the files.
Asst. Prof. Dr. Prinya Thaewanarumitkul, a law lecturer at Thammasat University, said that the delay in the clearance of criminal records is caused by the lack of a link between the court’s database and that of the Royal Thai Police. So, automatic clearing of the criminal records is currently not possible.
