Wednesday, November 13, 2013

French offer forensics 101

Cambodian criminal police participate in a legal and forensics training course led by experts from the French Royal Gendarmerie in Phnom Penh last week. PHOTO SUPPLIED

By Shane Worrell, The Phnom Penh Post Tue, 12 November 2013

In the past two years, the French embassy in Phnom Penh has been drawn into at least two high-profile cases in which their nationals have died in suspicious circumstances in Cambodia.

In the case of Laurent Vallier, 42, whose body was found with his four children in a vehicle submerged in a pond behind his home in Kampong Speu in January 2012, it took more than a year – and a second investigation – to determine that his death wasn’t a suicide.


This was after his skull was found in a suitcase in the back of the car and his body in the front passenger’s seat. The case remains open.

In an attempt to improve forensic investigations in the Kingdom, the French embassy announced yesterday it was helping provide experts to train officers from the Royal Gendarmerie, also known as the Military Police.

“Crime scenes and practical exercises using modern equipment from France have been organised to allow participants to learn how to deal with these situations and collect the necessary evidence,” a statement from the French embassy says.

The training, which came at the request of the Cambodian government, and “following a series of criminal cases where both Cambodians and foreign nationals were involved”, consisted of 63 officers being trained over five days.

Topics of focus included collecting fingerprints and performing tests in case of rape.

France also donated equipment to help officers across the country carry out investigations.

Military police spokesman Kheng Tito welcomed the training and equipment, but said it was desperately needed all across the country.

“No, we don’t have enough,” he said. “We need more. In 2012, the French gave us [equipment] and [it is] finished.”

A shortage in funding and training for police and military police in Cambodia is well-documented.

Earlier this year, the police response to the death of a woman on a ride at the Dreamland amusement park and the death of two workers at a garment factory in Kampong Speu raised questions about the police’s ability to even cordon off an accident scene in order to adequately investigate.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

You can never teach these corrupted Police and Police are criminal in Cambodia.

Anonymous said...

thank you france for giving much needed training and education like this to cambodia. the KR regime killed off the educated khmer already, now it is up to developed nations like france the US, the UK, australia, etc to help retrain cambodia, so our country can become civilized and developed again like during the 1960s and early 1970s. thank you, france!

Anonymous said...

cambodian police need this kind of training from france so they can catch the bad people in cambodia who think they can get away by committing crime in cambodia.

i'm glad france sees the areas where cambodia needs help and train them.

Anonymous said...

i'm glad france stop waiting for sam rainsy because he is weak and not wise and not smart like hun sen.

sam rainsy is bad for cambodia. please don't help him, france!

Anonymous said...

France tries to help a criminal Hun Sen to kill more khmer people. These stupid cops never find the real killers and doesn't matter how much they get training. They still commit crime themselves. These cops are not for the people, serve the people and protect the people. These cops kill the khmer people and protect Ah traitor Hun Sen. Khmer people need to kill Hun Sen and his cops before they kill us. Ah Skam Hun Sen is ah Youn Vietcong agent.

Anonymous said...

stop jealous france, i love france, too!

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Anonymous said...

The French and other westerners trying to teach Tom (the pussy cat) not to chase Jerry (the mouse).

Trying to throw somethings and everything hoping they will stick.