To Protect and Suppress in the Year of the Thai Police is the story of 2003’s unprecedented year in Thai history, when previously invisible political powers became visible through spectacular campaigns against drugs, corruption, and terror by the Royal Thai Police. As the first national-level police ethnography in Thailand and one of the first ethnographies that focuses on Asian police practices, it charts Thai police performance based on original ethnographic data. Through the experiences of Thailand’s police, citizens, and crime reporters, this book showcases the creation of a police-based government, its continual consequences, and ongoing legacy.