While police leadership champions open dialogue, local units are busy dealing out harsh penalties.
The Latest: On the morning of June 16, 2026, Maj. Gen. Đỗ Thanh Bình, director of the Traffic Police Department under the Ministry of Public Security, stated that he disagreed with the practice of some agencies and units choosing to lock comments on social media whenever issues of public concern arise.
According to Bình, the policy of the Traffic Police Department is to keep all comment sections open. He argued that receiving and confronting even opposing opinions allows authorities to “reflect on themselves” and make adjustments that are more consistent with real-life conditions.
The Details: Bình emphasized that there is no need to sensationalize or excessively praise images of traffic police pushing broken-down vehicles, clearing mud from roads, or helping people along the roadside.
- In his view, those are obvious responsibilities and should be regarded as normal actions in everyday society rather than achievements used to polish reputations.
However, a new phenomenon has emerged in recent months: many Facebook pages operated by police agencies in different localities have repeatedly used joking, sarcastic, and mocking language or have emphasized punishment measures in ways that have angered many citizens.
Police Conduct: In practice, the conduct of other police agencies appears quite different from Bình’s remarks, with several citizens facing strict penalties for online posts.
- On Feb. 10, Hương Sơn Commune Police in Hà Tĩnh Province fined T.A.D. (born in 1980, a resident of Hương Sơn Commune) 7.5 million đồng for conduct that investigators said involved “posting comments with inappropriate content,” including language deemed insulting, defamatory, and offensive toward traffic police officers.
- On March 16, the Traffic Police Division of Hồ Chí Minh City Police fined D.T.Q. (born in 1993) for posting what authorities described as false information on his personal Facebook account.
- After his motorcycle was impounded because it lacked a rearview mirror and he could not produce vehicle registration papers, Q. posted that his vehicle had been “stolen.” Police said that the post harmed the reputation of the agency and organization.
- Similarly, L.V.H. (born in 1985, residing in Vĩnh Long Province), owner of the TikTok account “L.H.,” filmed traffic police officers on duty at the Mỹ Phước–Tân Vạn and ĐT743 intersection. He posted a video with a caption implying that officers had “brought an ATM machine and set it up at the intersection.”
- According to the police, H. was subsequently fined and ordered to remove the clip.
- On June 5, 2026, the Facebook page of Trấn Biên Ward Police in Đồng Nai posted a sarcastic message: “If you see any bros or influencers in Trấn Biên Ward making videos on the topic of ‘shaking the vehicle before starting it up…,’ tag the admin. Mainly we want to invite them to the ward office to learn how to make videos. We promise we will not test them.”
- In the comments, the page further explained that people would only be invited to learn video-editing techniques while also being “taught a class so they can go online confidently and safely for their wallets, because if they copy whatever they see others doing without understanding the situation, it can get expensive.”
- Earlier, the official fanpage of the Drug Crime Investigation Division under Hồ Chí Minh City Police also posted numerous jokes about arrests made during anti-drug crackdowns in the city, further demonstrating the ongoing disconnect between mandated professionalism and online agency behavior.
Thành Phương wrote this article in Vietnamese and published it in Luật Khoa Magazine on June 17, 2026. The Vietnamese Magazine has the copyrights to the English translation.
