Female Bodyguards For New Thai PM Yingluck

"Female bodyguards are able to remain closer to female VIPs," said Pol Lt-Colonel Korakarn Arunplod, who is among the first generation of female bodyguards in Thailand.

Korakarn started her career as a bodyguard in 1995. Among the VIPs she has taken care of are Hillary Rodham Clinton, Empress Michiko of Japan and members of the Thai Royal Family.

She suggested that PM-elect Yingluck should have both male and female bodyguards. Beyond issues of security, having bodyguards of both sexes would create the best image.

And there are more practical concerns: "It is not appropriate for male bodyguards to enter private spaces such as women's bathrooms." She added that women were better at coordinating than men, though men were generally stronger.

The Special Branch Police Division (SBPD), Metropolitan Police Bureau (MPB) and Armed Forces Security Centre (AFSC) are the three institutions that usually provide bodyguards for Thai prime ministers.

However, the female bodyguards Yingluck used during her election campaign were from the airborne division of the Border Patrol Police Bureau (BPPB).

Pol Lt-General Prayoon Amarit, chief of the BPPB, said the institution assigned four female bodyguards to take care of Yingluck during her campaign as requested. All MP candidates can request officers for protection during election-campaign periods.

The mission is considered complete if the candidate does not get elected; if the candidate is elected, then the bodyguards have to remain with the candidate until he or she officially becomes a member of Parliament. In the July 3 election, more than 400 candidates requested bodyguards and the police assigned more than 900 officers to the task.

"Once Yingluck officially becomes prime minister, if she does not request the same group of bodyguards, then other relevant security forces will assign bodyguards for her," Prayoon said.

To become a bodyguard, the officers of the BPPB must be trained to protect very important persons (VIPs), he said. In addition to the usual police training, which includes guns, driving and parachuting, VIP protection training also teaches crowd-control tactics and techniques for remaining close and attending to the VIP.

Because the task is very physically demanding, requiring the person to be constantly vigilant and sometimes miss sleep, the team consists only of women aged 20 to 35, Prayoon said.

Normally the SBPD is in charge of providing security for VIPs and important events, he said. However, it may request officers from other police forces, including the BPPB. He added that female officers were also used for other security tasks involving women. For instance, they may guard the wives of VIPs or accompany VIPs when they meet female crowds.

Prayoon said bodyguards were also responsible for analysing and assessing situations. They are responsible for requesting more officers as needed to cope with different stress levels.

Bodyguards for Yingluck may also come from other police divisions such as the MPB's recently created all-woman 1st Crowd Control Division, named "Noppamas". The Royal Thai Police created the unit specifically to deal with the surge in protests over the past few years.

The front lines of both red-shirt and yellow-shirt protests are primarily composed of women, children and older people. This requires more tolerance and softer treatment from crowd-control police. The increasing awareness of rights, especially women's rights, also requires police to be more careful and respectful in their handling of others.

An all-woman company was created with the insight that female officers can help reduce tension when interacting with protesters, whether through their demeanour or the image they present. They have been trained rigorously for the task.

Competition to get into Noppamas is tough. Applicants have to be aged 20-25, have a bachelor's degree and be taller than 160 centimetres to apply. "Of more than 10,000 applicants, only 95 were accepted into the unit," said Alisa Plaengwech, a Noppamas bodyguard.

Training is divided into three phases, taking more than six months: physical training, field combat and crowd control.

"During the second training phase, we had to carry a 12-kilogram sandbag, a 4kg rifle and other belongings all day. We lived in the forest and carried out mock battles," said Wijittra Sangsri, another bodyguard. She said female guards could help ease tense situations because women were gentler than men.

Bodyguard Piyachat Kamsampha told The Nation about her VIP protection training. "We were taught how to prioritise the VIP's safety and honour," she said.

The toughest part of the training was being forced to endure tear gas. "We had to sit there and could not make a move. It was pure torture. But we passed the test," she said.

But despite the toughness of the training, Wijittra said she was still concerned about her appearance. She woke up earlier than everyone else - so she had time to put her makeup on.

- The Nation