At 9:30am today (Jan 23) at the Region 8 Police headquarters in Mai Khao, Police Region 8 Commander Lt Gen Sorasak Yenprom handed new pistols to officers from police stations in the provinces of Phuket, Phang Nga, Krabi, Ranong, Surat Thani, Chumphon and Nakhon Sri Thammarat.
Lt Gen Sorasak said, “The tendency of crimes has increased and crimes nowadays are more severe and complicated than in the past. In addition, many police officers have been injured in recent crimes.
“The limitation for personal defence weapons that officers may have had previously was a .38 revolver, which have been used since 1939. These guns have been used for more than 78 years,” Lt Gen Sorasak said.
“Due to these problems, the national police chief Gen Chakthip Chaijinda launched a project to provide 55,150 pistols to police. On May 12, 2015, the cabinet approved a budget of B990 million for Sig Sauer P320SP 9mm semi-automatic pistols and these are being handed to officers today,” Lt Gen Sorasak added.