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Previous Activities
Assisting Interpol
The Center for Asian Crime Studies (CACS) has been pleased to assist Interpol on several occasions, beginning several years ago with presentations at Interpol Working Group Meetings by CACS representatives, Dr. Sheldon Zhang and Colonel Cord Hart.
Interpol noticed a few years ago that the majority of humans smuggled to Europe, as well as to North America, were largely from China. That and the fact that many law enforcement agencies in Europe were still learning how to deal with crime by ethnic Asians led Interpol to invite CACS to make presentations on various aspects of Asian crime. CACS Director Cord Hart spoke at three earlier meetings in Lyon and in Ottawa and addressed such matters as the listing and tracing Asian names, cross-cultural issues attending investigations of Asian suspects, and the care and handling of Asian informants.
Most recently, in March 2005, CACS organized a training symposium held at Interpol General Secretariat in Lyon, France. Widely regarded as a huge success, the symposium featured expert speakers from several national police agencies and one private corporation. (Symposium agenda is noted below. Persons interested in obtaining outlines of those presentations should contact CACS.) The symposium was attended by 69 delegates representing 39 nations, plus seven persons from the Interpol General Secretariat and the top officers of CACS.
In February 2004, CACS was also prominent at an Interpol meeting to discuss the burgeoning problem of human smuggling from China. Formally billed as the 7th Working Group Meeting on Project Bridge, the meeting took place at Interpol offices in Lyon, France.
In that exercise, CACS Deputy Director for Research and Training, Dr. Sheldon Zhang, was given a key part of the agenda. Although already well known in North American for his original research in China, involving numerous interviews of “snakeheads”, and for his thorough understanding of the dynamics of human smuggling, Dr. Zhang was newly introduced to European law enforcement—and his initial presentation was a hit. He made a critical contribution to Interpol members’ understanding of human smuggling by detailing the organization of smuggling groups, plus the origins and motivations of persons immediately involved in the smuggling. His presentation was greatly applauded as it was the first authoritative description of the source and organization of human smuggling received by Interpol members. Without doubt, Dr. Zhang will be called on again to assist European authorities.
Assisting North American Law Enforcement
In April 2005, CACS partnered with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Training Academy of North Carolina to present another training symposium. The Charlotte, North Carolina area is one of the fastest growing parts of the United States in terms of economics and population. CACS is pleased to continue its assistance to police of the region by joining with local authorities to sponsor travel to Montreal, Canada, and a brief period of training there, for Detective Joel McNelly, head of the Gang Intelligence Unit of the local police department. In Montreal, Detective McNelly will have the valuable opportunity to learn investigative techniques from one of North America’s most accomplished investigators of Asian crime: Commander Mario Lamothe.
Held in the spacious and well-equipped training center of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, the two-day training featured the speakers noted below.