Stumbling around Thailand’s mind-boggling variety of security-themed official websites I recently chanced upon the homepage of the Central Investigation Bureau of the Royal Thai Police. I was struck, immediately, by the banner that they are running at the top of every page.

It encourages visitors to “stop” and take another look at this crucial component of the national policing infrastructure. In their words, the Central Investigation Bureau is “starting anew to provide better service”.

I must confess that I haven’t followed the activities of this policing unit closely enough to know what “worse service” was like. Would any New Mandala readers care to shed light on this “new look” and “new hope” for Thai policing?