VZCZCXYZ0000
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHPF #0009/01 0051014
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 051014Z JAN 09
FM AMEMBASSY PHNOM PENH
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0269
RUEHBK/AMEMBASSY BANGKOK 2655

UNCLAS PHNOM PENH 000009 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SECSTATE FOR DS/IP/EAP, EAP, INL, DRL 
PLEASE PASS TO FBI 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ASEC CB
SUBJECT: NEW BEGINNING FOR CAMBODIAN POLICE? COMMISSIONER'S 
STRATEGIC VISION IMPRESSES 
 
REF: PHNOM PENH 921 
 
SENSITIVE NOT FOR INTERNET DISTRIBUTION 
 
¶1. (U) Summary:  On December 11, DCM, RSO and Legat met with General 
Neth Savoeun, new Commissioner General of the Cambodian National 
Police.  The DCM congratulated him on his recent appointment as the 
nation's senior law enforcement official, replacing the deceased Hok 
Lundy (reftel).  She also thanked him for the professional 
collaboration between the Embassy and the police including 
heightened support following recent events in Mumbai.  Neth Savoeun 
described a detailed, impressive and ambitious strategic vision, 
which, if implemented, could change the way the police are viewed in 
Cambodia.  Top-most among his priorities for the national police of 
approximately 50,000 officers are internal reforms, including 
introducing the concept of community policing, and increasing the 
capabilities of the nation's border police.  END SUMMARY. 
 
Internal Reforms and Community Policing 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (U) Without prompting, Neth Savoeun acknowledged the need for a 
more disciplined approach to law enforcement.  He outlined a plan 
for carefully monitoring crime rates and deploying police resources 
when and where they were needed, at the same time holding police at 
the municipal and local level accountable for improvements in their 
areas.  He talked about rewarding positive behavior and censuring 
poor performers, including police not showing up for work, failing 
to enforce the law, or participating in corrupt behavior.  He talked 
of establishing an internal affairs unit to deal with misconduct and 
said officers had been warned that removal, and even prosecution, 
would be the price of misbehavior. 
 
¶3. (U) Neth Savoeun openly acknowledged that police must end an era 
of notorious misconduct.  Touching on one of the more benign 
problems, he said police in uniform not wearing helmets while on 
their motorcycles undermined the government's effort to introduce a 
new traffic law.  But, he did not shirk from discussing more serious 
misconduct, repeatedly talking about corruption, intimidation, 
gambling and failure to uphold the laws of the Kingdom.  He asserted 
that reducing incidences of police misconduct would encourage the 
citizenry to trust, and cooperate with, the police, thus reducing 
overall crimes rates. 
 
¶4. (U) He went on to describe plans to introduce community policing, 
a concept previously unknown in Cambodia.  He spoke of installing 
mailboxes at district and commune level police posts where citizens 
could deposit suggestions, complaints or even accolades, as a means 
of providing feedback on police performance.  He even envisioned 
police meeting face-to-face with citizens in their districts as an 
effort to improve relations with communities and make police more 
directly accountable.  He clearly recognized the importance of 
information-sharing between the police and the public.  He also 
described plans for a rewards system for members of the public who 
provide information to the police resulting in arrests and 
prosecutions. Acknowledging the risks such informants might face, he 
said they would be provided police protection if needed. 
 
Providing Secure Borders 
------------------------ 
 
¶5. (U) When discussing the border police, estimated to be 5,000 
members, Neth Savoeun explained that the nation's military had more 
resources than the border police and likely more capabilities. 
However, he stated that there was no truth to the rumor that the 
military would absorb the border policing responsibilities.  He 
explained that the Prime Minister decided that the military would 
continue to conduct military exercises and training in the border 
areas, while the border police would continue to conduct all law 
enforcement activities in those areas.  He advised that the border 
police were understaffed in many of the western provinces and, as a 
result, recruitment efforts would have to be increased in those 
provinces.  He outlined a plan for training trainers in these border 
regions and even admitted that Cambodia had requested assistance 
from neighboring countries like Vietnam for additional border 
security training programs.  He expressed a desire for U.S. training 
assistance in this area as well. 
 
Drugs, Gambling And Gangs 
------------------------- 
 
¶6. (U) Neth Savoeun cited the problems of drug addiction, gambling 
and gang activity as major causes of increased crime in the nation. 
He asserted that more drug rehabilitation centers were needed in 
order to effectively treat the nation's drug addiction problem.  He 
requested U.S. assistance in this area, but mainly in the form of 
funding for the construction of a facility on land already set aside 
 
by the government for a rehabilitation center.  The DCM noted that 
rehabilitating the drug addicted is a challenging undertaking which 
requires psychological and medical understanding, but undertook to 
look at how USG programs might inform the CNP effort. 
 
¶7. (U) Neth Savoeun advised that following consultations with the 
Prime Minister, he had a mandate to strictly enforce the 
government's gambling laws (Cambodians are not allowed to frequent 
gambling establishments, they are for foreigners only) -- which up 
to this point have not been enforced.  He anticipates receiving 
complaints from the owners of gambling establishments, but said the 
benefits of the enforcement far outweigh the consequences of 
inaction.  In regards to the gang problem in Cambodia, Neth Savoeun 
advised that his office is studying the U.S. model on anti-gang 
legislation and enforcement.  He explained that with the current 
lack of anti-gang legislation in Cambodia, suspected gang members 
are often released after the maximum 48-hour holding period.  Of the 
600 suspected gang members who were arrested in 2007, only 50 
actually faced criminal charges.  Neth Savoeun would like to send a 
delegation to the U.S. to study the U.S. response to the gang 
problem in detail. 
 
Fugitives 
--------- 
 
¶8. (U) According to Neth Savoeun there are approximately 7,000 
fugitives in Cambodia.  Neth Savoeun opined that the majority of the 
7,000 wanted persons continue to commit crimes due to the fact that 
they have not been apprehended.  Neth Savouen plans to use wanted 
posters similar to the FBI TOP TEN FUGITIVES and the media in an 
effort to apprehend these fugitives. 
 
Comment 
------ 
 
¶9. (SBU) A member of the government's leading task force on 
anti-trafficking, Neth Savoeun has a good reputation among elements 
of the Embassy who have dealt with him in the past.  It is clear 
that he takes his new responsibilities seriously - he said he'd 
hardly slept since assuming command, as there was so much to do. 
Savoeun briefed Emboffs speaking from a three-page, handwritten 
outline which we know he also has used as a basis for organized 
briefings to his senior staff and provincial police chiefs, who he 
has summoned into the capital.  His vision has been informed by 
advice provided by a staff member who received training in the US 
and another who previously served on the NYPD.  A nephew by marriage 
to the Prime Minister, Neth Savoeun seems to recognize that he will 
need significant political support to reform; he regularly referred 
to consulting with both Prime Minister Hun Sen and Sar Kheng, Deputy 
Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior.  Neth Savouen's ideas 
are comprehensive and ambitious; many, if not all, will encounter 
entrenched opposition in a system which has not heretofore operated 
on merit or punished poor performers. 
 
RODLEY