By Michael W. Robinson, U.S. Naval Criminal Investigative Service Fellow to the IACP

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President Ma Ying-jeou provides the keynote address at the conference’s opening ceremony. Photos courtesy of the Taiwan National Police Agency

he 10th IACP Asia/Pacific Executive Policing Conference was held at the Grand Hotel in Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China (ROC), March 29–31, 2009. Serving as host was the director general of the Taiwan National Police Agency, Wang Cho-Chiun; the event attracted over 450 police executives from approximately 27 countries. Representing the IACP were Chief Russell B. Laine, IACP president; Chief Michael J. Carroll, IACP first vice president; Chief Susan Riseling, IACP vice president at large; Mohamed Abdulaziz Al-Nassr, IACP international vice president; Commissioner Julian Fantino, IACP North American world regional chair; Daniel N. Rosenblatt, executive director of the IACP; Paul Santiago, director of the IACP International Policing Division; Michael W. Robinson, U.S. Naval Criminal Investigative Service fellow to the IACP; and William Walls, U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations (AFOSI) fellow to the IACP.

IACP president Russell B. Laine presents President Ma with an award in appreciation for his hospitality and his personal participation in the conference.

The opening ceremony began with a skilled presentation of flags representing the attending nations by a precision color guard consisting of cadets from the Taiwan Central Police University. The climax of the opening ceremony was the keynote address given by President Ma Ying-jeou of the ROC. President Ma addressed the challenges of confronting transnational crime by encouraging international relationships, cooperation, and close communication among the agencies of the international law enforcement community. To accomplish this, President Ma stated that Taiwan must rely heavily on bilateral agreements with other countries and relationships with the international law enforcement community. President Ma said that Taiwan is currently negotiating an extradition treaty with the United States and is proposing to make a similar agreement with the People’s Republic of China in an effort to work together to combat transnational crime. President Ma announced Taiwan’s most recent success in reducing violent crime by 22 percent and theft by 15 percent. Taiwan desires to work internationally to stop the spread of transnational crimes such as illegal drugs, money laundering, and terrorism, to name a few. Also speaking at the opening ceremony was Vice Premier Chiu Cheng-hsiung of the ROC, Director General Wang, and President Laine.

Director General Wang Cho-Chiun addresses conference attendees.

The first plenary session was opened by a presentation titled, “The Trends and Challenges in Combating Emerging Transnational Crimes,” given by renowned forensic scientist Dr. Henry C. Lee, chief emeritus of the Connecticut State Police Forensic Laboratory and founder and professor of the Forensic Science Program at the University of New Haven. Dr. Lee’s presentation incorporated transnational crime issues that included drug/arms trafficking, human smuggling, cybercrime, money laundering, and terrorism. Dr. Lee energetically delivered his presentation to a capacity crowd of international police executives from North America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. The plenary sessions were not only informative but educational in discussing some of the most common and useful topics affecting transnational crime issues.

The day before the opening ceremony, the IACP International Managers of Police Academy and College Training (IMPACT) Section, chaired by Professor Richard Mears of the University of Maine at Augusta, held a seminar titled, “The Challenge of Police Education and Training in the 21st Century,” which attracted a standing room–only attendance of international police trainers and criminal justice professors. Speakers at the IMPACT seminar (and the titles of their presentations) included the following:

• Gary L. Barr, assistant director for regional operations in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, U.S. Department of Justice, International Criminal Investigative Training Assistance Program (ICITAP), “Developing Organizational Capacity to Address Transnational Crime”


• Dr. Changwon Pyo, policy adviser to the commissioner general of the Korean National Police Agency, “A Possible Solution to Enhance Asian Capability of Combating Transnational Crime”


• Sabrina F. F. Shei, director, Taiwan Education Division, National Police Agency, “The Vision and Strategies for Police Training in the 21st Century: Shaping Police Officers Who Respect Human Rights, Are Efficient, and Have Integrity”


• Dr. Charles Kuang-Ming Chang and Dr. Jiuun-Cherng Chiou, professors at Taiwan Central Police University, “A Study of Taiwan’s Police Chief’s Selection and Training”


• Dr. Hsin-Yun Ma, associate professor at Taiwan Police College, “A Research of Human Resources, Recruitment, and Selection of Police Officers of Taiwan”

The IMPACT Section has increasingly conducted similar seminars in many of the IACP’s recent international conferences, providing a value-added benefit to all IACP members in attendance.

The conference organizing committee of the National Police Agency invited many globally recognized professionals to lecture in their related fields of expertise; some of those that presented are as follows:

• AFOSI Special Agent Stefan Morgan, “Emerging Intrusion Threats”


• Francis X. Taylor, vice president and chief security officer for the General Electric Company, “International Terrorism: Perspective from the Global Business Community”


• Dr. Kumar Ramakrishna of the Centre of Excellence for National Security, the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, “Countering the Threat of Transnational Terrorism: A Perspective from the Southeast Asia Theater”


• Deputy Chief Titus Mbuyisiwe Malaza of the Durban, South Africa, Metro Police, “Patterns and Prevention Strategies in Human Trafficking”


• Inspector Dong Uk Kim of the Korean National Police Agency, “Police Cooperation against Cybercrime: Pre-MLAT Stage”; Inspector Kim also presented “Combating Terrorism through the Internet” at the First IACP Middle East/North Africa Executive Policing Conference in Doha, Qatar, last November

Because of the hard work and dedication of Director General Wang and the organizing committee of the National Police Agency, the 10th IACP Asia/Pacific Executive Policing Conference was a resounding success. The organization and the execution of this conference established a new benchmark that will not be easily matched. The Taiwan National Police Agency, globally recognized as a premier law enforcement agency, has amplified its ability to contribute to the fight against transnational crime through strengthening existing world partnerships and creating new ones. ■

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