Apologies In 11th Grader Driving Police Car Case
Phnom Penh: Three people involved in the case of a private school student in Chroy Changvar district, who used a car with a police license plate to drive to school, were summoned by the Phnom Penh Municipal Police for clarification.
Mr. San Sok Seiha confirmed that three people involved in this case were summoned by the Phnom Penh Municipal Police for clarification, including Tan Sambath Udom, a private school student who drove the fully kitted out police vehicle to class. The owner of the car was his brother, Tan Wittayaboth, a police officer at the National Police Academy, along with the original owner, Phorn Chivin, a police officer at the General Department of Immigration.
He said that after receiving reports from the people as well as posting information on Facebook, Lt. Gen. Thet, Deputy Commissioner and Phnom Penh Municipal Police Commissioner, ordered the Information and Quick Reaction Team to cooperate with the Traffic Office. Road and Chroy Changvar District Police Inspectorate to conduct research to know more about this published information. After conducting a direct search of the school site, it was revealed that a student named Tan Sambath Udom actually drove a car with a siren to the school.
Until the afternoon of February 17, 2021, the competent authorities of the Office of Road Traffic found the car and brought both the car and the driver for questioning at the Office of Road Traffic of the Phnom Penh Municipal Police. On the afternoon of February 18, 2021, the above three stakeholders were summoned by the Road Traffic Bureau to come and clarify the case of using a car with a siren to ride to school.
The boy, Tan Sambath Udom admitted his mistake by driving his brother’s car to school.
According to the research and clarification from the Logistics Office of the Phnom Penh Municipal Police, the car with license plate POLICE 2. 8763 is not in the inventory of the Phnom Penh Municipal Police. In fact, the car was originally owned by Phorn Chivoan, a police officer from the Meanchey District Police Inspectorate (now a police officer at the General Department of Immigration) who applied for a license plate on his private car in 2016, after which in October 2020, he sold the car to his friend Tan Wittayaboth, a police officer at the National Police Academy.
The three involved admitted their guilt, publicly apologizing to the general public, especially the National Police, for allowing the 11th grade student to use a car against the rules.
After acknowledging the mistake of making a contract and publicly apologizing, the traffic office of the Phnom Penh Municipal Police handed over the car and the three people to the Traffic Police and Public Order Department to check the license plate.
On the other hand, since this car is not a vehicle of the Traffic Department, the siren will be removed and if the car is misused, the authorities will confiscate the vehicle. The original owner of the car and the current owner- both police officers- will make a respectful report to their respective heads of unit to continue for further discipline over this mistake. KBN
