Fred Lau | |||||||||||
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Born | Fred Harry Lau June 26, 1949
San Francisco,
California, U.S. | ||||||||||
Alma mater |
City College of San Francisco San Francisco State University ( B.A.) | ||||||||||
Chinese name | |||||||||||
Traditional Chinese | 劉百安 [1] | ||||||||||
Simplified Chinese | 刘百安 | ||||||||||
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Fred Harry Lau (born June 26, 1949) is a former Chief of Police for San Francisco, having served from 1996–2002. [2] He was the first Asian American to ever hold that position, and has been called the first Chinese-American to lead the police in any major American city. [3] In 2013, he became the TSA Federal Security Director of the San Francisco International Airport.
A third-generation San Franciscan and Cantonese speaker, Lau was born at San Francisco Chinese Hospital in Chinatown, San Francisco; he grew up in and around his family's business (Wing Duck Import/Export) on Grant Avenue in Chinatown. [4] [5] He attended Garfield Elementary and Francisco Middle schools, graduating from Galileo High School. [6] As a teenager, he participated in the American Friends Service Committee anti-gang Youth for Service program. [7] He attended and graduated from City College of San Francisco, [8] and eventually obtained a Bachelor of Arts in 1997 from San Francisco State University. [9] [10]
After successfully challenging a 5'8" height requirement [11] in 1970, Lau entered the SF Police Academy in 1971 and joined the San Francisco Police Department following graduation, becoming the fifth Chinese-American member of the SFPD. [3] It is not documented whether Lau participated in the 1975 police-officers strike, although supervisors, inspectors and African-American officers were non-participants. [12] He became an inspector-sergeant, eventually rising to head the SFPD Bureau of Inspectors. As a lieutenant, he headed the sniper unit. In 1977, he was assigned to the SFPD Gang Task Force after the Golden Dragon Massacre. [13] Lau served on the SFPD Discharge Review Board until 1995; this panel came under severe scrutiny in San Francisco Examiner articles for failing to hold officers accountable in police-involved shootings. [14] [15]
In 1996, as one of new Mayor Willie Brown's first official moves, [16] Lau was appointed as the first Asian-American chief of the 2,300-man department; possibly as a result of lobbying by AsianWeek publishers who supported Brown and Terrence Hallinan during the elections. [17] Chinatown activist Rose Pak threatened to withdraw support for the S.F. Giants' proposed Pac Bell Park if Mayor Brown didn't fire a political consultant hostile to Lau. [18] [19]
Lau served six years as chief from 1996–2002. Among Lau's successes as chief have been mentioned the implementation of domestic violence and hate-crimes units, [20] as well as a crackdown on extortion in Chinatown. [21] He appointed fellow Gang Task Force member (and future SFPD chief) Heather Fong to be captain of SFPD Central Station. [22] San Francisco Chronicle ran a series of articles criticizing the SFPD and Lau's leadership for nationally worst performance in solving violent crimes; [23] at the time Lau claimed that contractual seniority-based work rules and lack of off-hours justice solutions were key factors for the poor results. [24] [25] Lau was also associated with initiating and promulgating the politically SFPD policy of arresting participants in the Critical Mass (cycling) demonstrations. [26]
After leaving the SFPD in July 2002, he was sworn as Federal Security Director with the TSA, overseeing staff at Oakland, Stockton, Sonoma County, and Modesto airports. [27] He oversaw implementation of security screening at Oakland in 2002, [28] and explosive detection for checked-baggage in 2006. [29] In July 2013, he became Federal Security Director for SFO. [30]
Lau serves on the Advisory Board of the DHS Asian American Pacific Islander Network (DHS AAPIN), [31] and is a senior advisor to the National Association of Asian American Law Enforcement Commanders. [32]
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