Although technically part of the Royal Thai Police (RTP), the BPP has always enjoyed a great deal of autonomy within the national headquarters as well as in its field operations.

Armed with modern light infantry equipment, the BPP also benefited from training by United States Army Special Forces advisers who helped establish an instruction program during the 1960s.

In order to carry out its intelligence mission, the BPP operates numerous civic action programs to cultivate and maintain rapport with remote area villagers and hill tribes.

Under the Border Patrol Police Division 44, Phaya Lithai Camp, Yala Province, established training courses and set up a unit since 2010.

The VDC had the responsibility of protecting inhabitants from threats and intimidation by guerrillas who had infiltrated the border provinces from neighboring Laos, Cambodia, and Malaysia.

[6] The BPP, together with the Ministry of Interior, backed and sponsored the 1971 establishment of the "Village Scouts", a right-wing rural vigilante group and paramilitary militia.

[citation needed] The Village Scouts conducted the anti-leftist rally that led to the Thammasat University massacre and bloody coup d'état on 6 October 1976.

[10] The 10,600 member Thahan Phran ("Rangers") was formed as a volunteer militia force deployed to active trouble spots along the Cambodian and Burmese borders.

The Thahan Phran gained considerable publicity and incurred significant casualties during Vietnamese bombardments and local assaults along the Cambodian border.