Region 8 Police Commander Pol Lt Gen Suraphong Thanomchit and Phuket Provincial Police Commander Pol Maj Gen Sermphan Sirikong jointly led the ‘incident response’ simulation, held on the first floor of Central Phuket mall ‘Floresta’ building from 8:30am to 9:30am.
The exercise simulated a lone male criminal discharging a firearm inside the mall, explained an official report of the drill.
Under the simulation, the criminal entered the mall concealing his face and carrying a firearm. He refused to allow the officers to search him, and the simulation then proceeded as if the criminal shot people inside the mall, injuring his victims and then taking people hostage.
The simulation continued with Wichit Police Station being notified of the incident and coordinating forces and reporting to the commander before proceeding with the response.
The outcome of the simulation was that the ‘shooter’ was the only person to die and the hostages escaped safely.
Emergency medical personnel were on hand to help participants designated as ‘injured’ and EOD police officers inspected the suspect’s bag and found no explosives.
Tourist Police fulfilled their role by ensuring that participants designated as ‘tourists’ at the mall were informed of the situation and guided appropriately.
The drill was a rehearsal of the annual incident response plan, said Pol Maj Gen Sermphan.
“This [simulation] has been done once before at Phuket Boat Lagoon and this rehearsal is linked to the real situation that happened in Bangkok earlier this month,” he added, referring to the shooting spree by a 14-year-old that killed three people and left several others injured on Oct 3.
“After learning the theory from expert personnel from the Royal Thai Police, the personnel of Region 8 Police and Phuket Provincial Police and various related agencies are very ready to serve citizens and tourists, especially during this period, the traditional Vegetarian Festival in Phuket, with a large number of citizens and tourists traveling into the area,” Maj Gen Sermphan said.
“Police officers are ready in every aspect, including traffic, Tourist Police, Immigration police, We are ready to provide safety for citizens and tourists, both Thai and foreigners,” he added.
“This builds confidence and increases the effectiveness of our work. It can clearly be seen that the statistics of incidents have decreased. including traffic accident statistics and other aspects,” he concluded.