Across the borders

Police stations all around Thailand are sending their chubbiest officers to a weight-loss camp as part of a nation-wide program aptly called ‘Belly Destruction’.

After the success of a two-week pilot program, police stations in Thailand have begun sending their fattest officers to the Central Police Training Center in the city of Pak Chong, to take part in intense physical activity designed to adjust the size of their bellies.

Each station will periodically send two to three overweight policemen to the centre, where they will work out, ride bicycles and adopt a healthy, protein-rich diet to shed as much extra weight as possible.

The Belly Destruction program started gaining attention after photos of overweight police officers taking part in the daily exercise routine went viral online.

Thailand sending fat officer to police exercise camps.
“There are so many problems if you’re a fat cop,” Senior Sgt Maj Sornpetch Chantarak, a dietary enforcer in the new program, said.

“You work slow and move slow as you go tumbling about. That’s unacceptable if you’re an officer tasked with arresting criminals, since you have to be deft and go quickly.”