Royal Thai Police (Thailand)

Last modified: 2023-06-03 by zachary harden
Keywords: royal thai police | police | sword (red) | text: thai (red) |
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image by Zachary Harden, 4 October 2018

• Police Flag
• Police Ensign
• Police Vessel Pennant
• State Color
• The Pitak Santiraj Flag
• Police Rank Flags
• Police Aircraft Marking
• National flag used by Police
• Divisional flags

See also:

• Thailand

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image by Santiago Dotor and Eugene Ipavec, based on a photograph by Ya'ara Gutterman

I recently came back from Thailand. The same badge and inscription in police [station] signs is used as the police flag.

Ya'ara Gutterman, 21 Sep 2001

The photograph is quite dark, so that it is not fully clear whether the police badge is red, dark red or purplish red.

Santiago Dotor, 28 May 2003

The inscription on Santiago's somewhat blurry original reads "ทพักลายตรวจแกาะพื่พื่", (with a diacritical mark missing from above the very first character). I've matched the individual letters one-for-one, but have no idea of the line's meaning. It does not appear to read "Royal Thai Police," as one might expect – or, at any rate, the inscription is not identical to the one on the header of the police website, translated as "Royal Thai Police" in English directly below.

Eugene Ipavec, 25 Sep 2005

The police flags that are seen in Thailand now is the police emblem in white on a maroon background. I am not sure when the flag was switched over or how often the white flag was used.
Zachary Harden, 4 October 2018

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image by Santiago Dotor and Eugene Ipavec, based on a photograph by Ya'ara Gutterman

I seem to remember that Police boats' ensigns are charged only with the emblem without the inscription.

Ya'ara Gutterman, 21 Sep 2001

image by Suttipong Phuensaen and Zachary Harden, 21 August 2018

As shown in Jane's Fighting Ships 2002-03, police vessels do not fly any of the police flags shown above. Instead they fly a dark red pennant with the national flag at hoist and the police badge at the centre. They also fly the national flag as their ensign.

Miles Li, 30 Jul 2004 and 27 July 2018

According to a translation I found of the 1979 Flag Law (original Thai text here), Section 41-6 gives the detail of the police pennant. The text reads as follows: "(6) Marine Police Officer Flag which is isosceles triangle shape where the base of the triangle being on the side of the flag pole is 1 part wide; The flag is 3 parts in length, the 1 part out of the 3 parts of the hoist part of the flag is of the same characteristics and colours as the National Flag; and the 2 parts out of the 3 parts of the fly part of the flag is in crimson; in the middle of the flag, there are charges of Phra Saengdarb Khane and shield in yellow."
Zachary Harden, 21 August 2018

image by Suttipong Phuensaen and Zachary Harden, 20 May 2019

First presented in 1952, it has the same size characteristics as the army and air force unit flags. The central design of the colors is the addition of the 1873-1910 coat of arms in silver. The name of the unit is below the arms in red and the fringe used is also silver in color.
Zachary Harden, 20 May 2019

image by Suttipong Phuensaen, 20 May 2019

This special police flag, as described by Suttipong Phuensaen, is an honor flag that is used by the police. It can be used for different ceremonies such as funerals, change of command and retirements. From the 1979 Flag Law:

Section 34. The Pitak Santiraj Flag of the Police Department is of the same characteristics and colours as the National Flag but in the middle of the flag there is an charge of the National Emblem of the Reign of His Majesty King Chulalongkorn with the word “to protect the people’s peace” embroidered in silver metallic threads embracing the underside of the National Emblem.

Police Rank Flags

There are three ranks that qualifies for using a personal flag to denote their office; General, Lieutenant General and Major General. Similar to the flags of the military, the personal flag consists of their insignia on a maroon field (similar to the main police flag). However, the designs are not specified in law to my knowledge.
Zachary Harden, 13 November 2018

Police air wings use the same marking as the Air Force with police emblem [above] on nose. See photo.

Dov Gutterman, 26 Jun 2003

National flag used by Police

An article in the Daily Mail shows the "monkey police" - a monkey trained to assist the police. He wears a police jacket emblazoned "Monkey Police" and on his shoulder sports a national flag with a yellow map of Thailand over it - see this image from http://www.weirdasianews.com
Nachum Lamm, 9 March 2013