Center for Asian Crime Studies

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Board of Officers

 

Cord Hart
M. Cordell Hart
Email

Cord Hart is a well-known writer and lecturer on Asian crime matters. He is a recently retired US federal government official, a retired Colonel in Military Intelligence (Army of the United States), a past President of the International Association of Asian Crime Investigators, a Chinese linguist and a former CIA Case Officer.

 

David Chong
David Chong
Email

David E. Chong is Police Commissioner of the City of Mount Vernon, New York. He has served in the law enforcement community almost 30 years. Retiring as Lieutenant Commander of Detectives in the New York City Police Department in November of 2002, after serving over 22 years there, and receiving 119 awards and medals, he served as Deputy Commissioner of Public Safety for the City of White Plains before moving to his current position. He also teaches part-time as Adjunct Professor of Criminal Justice at Monroe College in New York.

 

 

John Hermansen
John C. Hermansen, Ph.D.

Dr. John C. Hermansen is the former CEO and co-founder of Language Analysis Systems, Inc. (LAS), a provider of knowledge-based, multicultural name recognition solutions for both commercial and government agencies that require accuracy and integrity when accessing customer records or other lists of names. In March of 2006, IBM acquired LAS. Dr. Hermansen is currently the Chief Technology Officer for IBM’s Entity Analytics Group.

In 2004, Federal Computer Week presented Hermansen with the Federal 100 Award “for coming up with new and better ways of tackling perpetual problems and blazing a trail that others may follow.” He was also selected as one of 2003’s “Fast 50 Champions of Innovation” by Fast Company magazine. In September of 2001, name recognition technology developed by LAS helped INS special agents track the 9-11 terrorists to their Florida locations.

 

Nick Kinsella
Nick Kinsella

Email

A former Assistant Director of the National Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS), Detective Chief Superintendent Nick Kinsella has 26 years police service experience. During his time at NCIS, Nick had specific responsibility for human trafficking. He began his new post as head of centre at UKHTC in July 2006 having conceived and obtained funding for Operation Pentameter - the UK's first national anti-human trafficking campaign. He also spent two years as HMIC lead for major crime investigations. A former junior school teacher, Nick joined South Yorkshire Police in 1980. He has a First Class Honours degree in Law.

 

Larry Lambert
Larry B. Lambert
Email

Larry B. Lambert consults with Fortune 500 companies and others on matters of corporate intelligence and crisis management. He is retired from the Orange County (CA) District Attorney?s Office where he worked extensively in the field of Asian Organized Crime investigation and prosecution and from commissioned service with the US Navy?s special operations and intelligence communities. His background as a senior manager in national security, international diplomacy and multi-national projects extends through Europe, the Middle East and Asia. Mr. Lambert has lectured and conducted specialized training on topics related to Asian Organized Crime in Asia, the Asian Subcontinent, Europe and North America. He is a past president of the International Association of Asian Crime Investigators.

 

Garry Spence
Garry Spence

Email

Garry Spence is currently the Director of Investigations with the Consumer Protection Authority of British Columbia, Canada. This appointment follows a successful career with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police specializing in the areas of criminal intelligence, organized crime and economic crime. Mr. Spence works extensively with national and international law enforcement agencies and has lectured on trans-national crime and cooperative efforts required to combat this growing concern. He has also been recognized for his achievements in combating Asian crime by the International Association of Asian Crime Investigators.

 

Sheldon Zhang
Sheldon X. Zhang, Ph.D.

Email

Dr. Zhang, a noted researcher in the field of criminology and Chinese organized crime is currently serving as an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at San Diego State University. Amongst Mr. Zhang's most noted research project is “The Social Organization of Chinese Alien Smuggling”, an in-depth examination of  "Snakeheads," human smugglers from East Asian.

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Board of Advisors

 

Timothy Chao
Timothy Chao


A Civil Engineer by trade he joined the New Zealand Police in 1989. After several years as a uniformed general duties Constable he joined the Criminal Investigation Branch and qualified as a Detective. He has been involved in the investigation of many types of criminal offending including homicide, the illegal distribution of controlled drugs, sex and fraud crimes. For the past six years he has been a member of the Asian Crime Unit based in Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city and home to the majority of New Zealand’s Asian population.

 

Chu Yiu-kong
Chu Yiu-kong, Ph.D.

Dr. Chu received his PhD in Police Studies in the University of Exeter in the UK in 1997. He is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology and a Fellow in the Centre for Criminology at the University of Hong Kong. He is also one of the founding members of the Asian Association of Police Studies (AAPS) and the Hong Kong Juvenile Delinquency Research Society (HKJDRS). He has been invited by various police forces in Asia and Europe to give guest lectures on Chinese organized crime and policing. He is the author of The Triads as Business, the first comprehensive academic study of Hong Kong Triads, focusing on their roles in legal, illegal and international markets.

 

Sylvia Harten
Sylvia Harten

Chief Superintendent Sylvia Harten of the Netherlands has served 35 years in law enforcement. Beginning in 1972 as a uniformed police officer in the Hague, she soon developed an interest in working with Asians. In 1991, she began working for the Netherlands National Criminal Intelligence Service, coordinating at the national level on all Asian Organized Crime investigations. After 12 years of successful work in that field, including several appearances as an expert speaker at several international law enforcement conferences around the world, she was selected to become the senior police producer of a highly popular law enforcement television program broadcast twice weekly throughout the Netherlands. The program seeks the assistance of the public in tracking down wanted persons and solving certain ongoing investigations. Fully 35 % of the cases aired were solved through assistance and information obtained by this program. In 2005, Chief Superintendent Harten returned to focus on Asian crime when she was posted to Bangkok, Thailand, as Police Liaison Officer. Besides Thailand, her area of responsibility includes Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Sri Lanka.

 

Mario Lamothe
Mario Lamothe

Commander Mario Lamothe has been with the Montreal Police force for twenty-five years, of which fifteen years were spent with the Anti-Gang Squad. During this period, he gained the respect and credibility of the Asian community. He is recognized as an expert by different court levels and immigration boards in matters of Asian organized crime and Asian street gangs.

As his expertise grew, he was invited to share his hands-on experience and knowledge at international, national and regional conferences and seminars. His lectures and instructions mostly focused on "How to help and being helped in dealing with Asian crime investigations." He provided training to the Montreal police patrol officers and investigators on "Asian Home Invasions and MO," and to the Vancouver Canada Customs Agency on "How to Develop Informants".

In 2004, he was promoted to the rank of Commander. He is now in charge of an investigative unit within the Montreal Police Department where 65 individuals report to him. He is still in contact with the Asian community, as a member of the Asian Watch Committee, and keeps abreast of Asian criminality through informants, contacts and colleagues with whom he has been in touch over the years.

 

Gordon McRae
Gordon C. McRae

Superintendant Gordon McRae is a 37 year veteran of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). Born and raised in Victoria, British Columbia, his career first took him to Saskatchewan where he spent 20 years performing various policing duties including general detachment policing, highway patrol, instructor at the RCMP Training Academy, and finally Commercial Crime investigator/supervisor.

He received his Queen's Commission in 1991 and transferred to St. John's Newfoundland as the Officer In Charge Commercial Crime for Newfoundland and Labrador. He left Commercial Crime duties for municipal policing in 1996 with his transfer to North Vancouver Detachment. In April 2000, he was seconded to the United Nations Mission in Kosovo as the Director of Operations for the 4,200 member international police force. He returned to Canada in February 2001 and took command of the RCMP Commercial Crime operations for the province of British Columbia. In this role his is responsible for the program delivery of a wide variety of white collar crime investigations. Supt. McRae has addressed various business and police groups, nationally and internationally on white collar crime issues.

 

Florian C. Reiter,
Ph.D.

Dr. Florian C. Reiter was born in Prien am Chiemsee (Germany, Bavaria) and obtained his higher education, including a PhD in Sinology at Munich University and Fu-Jen University (Taiwan). In 1974-76, he was a lecturer of German at Suchow University and Tamkang College (Taiwan). In 1979-86, he was a member of the scientific research group of the Tao-tsang project of the European Science Foundation at Warzburg University, where he remained as a lecturer in Chinese studies until 1993, when he became Professor for Chinese Studies (pre-modern Chinese culture) at Humboldt-University, Berlin. Dr. Reiter is also fluent in Chinese and English languages.

 

Michael Watson
Michael Watson

Michael Watson is currently working in the specialist and international training area of the Australian Federal Police. He has 37 years police service experience, principally as a Detective where he specialised in the fields of intelligence and Asian Organised Crime.

In 2000, at the rank of Superintendent, he formed and led the Intelligence Division of the United Nations Police in East Timor. Prior to this, in 1990-1991, he was a Station Commander and relieving Police Operations Officer, United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus.

During the course of his policing career he has received a number of commendations and awards. He has also been recognised for his achievements in combating Asian crime on a number of occasions by the International Association of Asian Crime Investigators.

He holds a number of tertiary qualifications, including a Master of Letters degree in Peace Studies and a Master of Arts degree in Asian Studies, where his field of study was South East Asia. He is currently working on his PhD thesis. He has also been a casual specialist lecturer on Asian Organised Crime for the Master of Transnational Crime Prevention program at the University of Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia.

 

John Willoughby
John W. Willoughby
("Jack")

Before retiring as a Lieutenant of the New Orleans Police Department, he had worked Asian crime for many years, and was one of the early proponents of
cross-cultural understanding. He co-authored "Distorted Mirror", a book of
instruction for law enforcement personnel dealing with crime by Southeast
Asians.