Police incidents relating to the Akha

Police and Army jurisdiction may overlap though army may be more involved in jungle border areas along with the border patrol. Police have central locatios where army may be scattered in checkpoints and camps in or near thvillages.

Police
The police are often a power to themselves and how the Akha are treated depends on the police in their area, or where they have to travel and which checkpoints they must pass. If they need to travel out of their district to a hospital, but only have a green card, they face arrest, same for a blue card. Full ID "White" cards have only been issued to a few Akha, maybe 20% of the total in Thailand. Others face deportation.

Checkpoint police may detain, extort money, possesions or "favors".

In the cases of Loh Guuh and Ah Bah, the police were directly involved in the killings of these two men yet there was never a full investigation, revelation of the officers involved, nor prosecution.

The police prefer to enforce the law primarily when it goes against the hill tribe, not when it is to protect their human rights.

Improvements
In the last two years we have seen some improvements in accountability, but there is still a very long way to go.