Enhancing Investigative Methods that are Effective and Uphold Human Rights.

Abstract

    Investigating officers serve as the cornerstone of the criminal justice process. However, current investigative practices in Thailand lack a modern, standardized, and internationally recognized operational framework. Reviews indicate that investigating officers may lack both the skills and knowledge necessary to conduct human-rights-respecting interviews. In addition, there are structural limitations affecting investigative quality, such as a shortage of personnel, inadequate investigative tools and equipment, and insufficient or unsuitable interview facilities.

          Media reports have widely circulated concerns about recurring problems of investigative practice— investigating officers failing to ensure fairness to victims, denying suspects adequate opportunity to prove their innocence or give full testimony, or focusing solely on eliciting confessions. Such conduct reflects an absence of professionalism and a deficiency in ethical investigative culture.

          In response, this research project analyzes problems and operational obstacles faced by investigating officers under the Royal Thai Police during the investigative process. Its objective is to establish standardized and human-rights-respecting interviewing procedures that are both effective and aligned with international obligations such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (ICCPED). The research seeks to provide policy recommendations for senior executives of the Royal Thai Police to issue nationwide regulations governing investigative interviewing practices. Furthermore, it proposes the creation of a teaching curriculum on human-rights-compliant and effective investigative interviewing for instructors at the Royal Police Cadet Academy.

          A research-and-development methodology was applied, using purposive sampling of 17 participants, including victims, witnesses, and suspects; investigating officers from the Royal Thai Police and the Department of Special Investigation; public prosecutors; judges; human rights advocates; and academic experts in investigative techniques, human rights, and psychology.

Findings revealed that current interviewing practice remains non-standardized and could be significantly improved to enhance human-rights protection. Presently, there are no clear and unified operational guidelines for interviewing, and systematic training in effective, rights-compliant investigative interviewing remains insufficient. Existing laws and regulations continue to rely primarily on written documentation rather than mandatory audio-video recording of interrogations.

          Therefore, this study proposes the adoption of investigative practices based on the PEACE Model and the Méndez Principles to elevate Thai investigative interviewing to international standards. It recommends that the Royal Thai Police issue clear nationwide regulations for investigative interviewing, adopt the S.O.B.S.WN. model, which has been developed from the European PEACE Model, as a reference framework for practice, and implement a structured training curriculum on human-rights-compliant investigative interviewing for police cadets and in-service personnel. The curriculum should cultivate correct attitudes toward interviewing as a core component of evidence collection and must include essential knowledge of psychology, neuroscience, and human rights in the justice process. Besides, key interpersonal competencies such as communication and negotiation, active listening, professional demeanor, appropriate tone of voice, and ethical conduct demonstrating integrity, transparency, and professionalism should be strengthened.