Present to officiate the opening of the ‘Front Operations Centre’ today (Sept 25) was Region 8 Police Commander Pol Lt Gen Suraphong Thanomchit, along with an assembly of local police officers and security personnel at the airport.
The opening of the new police centre, marked by a sign emblazoned ‘Airport Security Center’, came as leading tourism figures arrived at the airport to welcome Chinese and Kazakh tourists coming to Thailand under the new vsa-free scheme approved especially for tourists from those two countries.
The new centre is the result of the combined effort of Phuket International Airport officials, Tourism Authority of Thailand, Immigration Police at Phuket airport, Tourist Police, affiliated police officers from Sakhu Police Station as well as the Phuket Provincial Police and the Investigation Division at Region 8 Police, said an official report of the opening.
Also joining the effort were public transport operators “to ensure safety and convenience for tourists”, said the report.
“Measures to protect the safety of life and property of tourists have been emphasised, including facilitating various aspects such as traffic, visa inspection and receiving tourists at public transportation points, including public transportation through apps at Phuket International Airport,” the report explained..
Officers at the centre are to collect a history of public car service providers picking up tourists at the airport. Officers are to monitor images from CCTV cameras that feed footage to a command control centre.
Officers are to use facial recognition data and biometrics to maintain security at the airport, while tourists are recommended to use the Tourist Police ‘I Lert U’ app (available on Google Play and the App Store), which has even resulted in foreign tourists lost in the jungle in Phuket being found and safely recovered.
Issues encountered or resolved by officers each day at the new centre are to be presented to the Joint Operations Center for Tourist Safety (Command and Control Operation Center: C.C.O.C.) for review in order to “develop operations for maximum efficiency”, the report added.
Other than regulating taxis, exactly why such a security centre was needed was not explained. Immigration officers have their own centre at the airport and Sakhu Police are already entrusted with providing police officers at the key tourist facility, and countless tourists have been provided invaluable assistance by officers and personnel at the Tourist Assistance Centre, created years ago by the Ministry of Tourism & Sports.