USG-SPONSORED LAW ENFORCEMENT CAPACITY BUILDING IN

UNCLAS HONG KONG 002148

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

STATE FOR EAP/CM

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ASEC SNAR PINS OEXC KCRM PREL TW CH MC HK
SUBJECT: USG-SPONSORED LAW ENFORCEMENT CAPACITY BUILDING IN
HONG KONG AND MACAU


1. (SBU) SUMMARY: Law enforcement cooperation and capacity
building in Hong Kong and Macau are top priorities in Post's
Mission Strategic Plan. This cable highlights the active
efforts by Post's eight resident law enforcement agencies
during Fiscal Year (FY) 2009. Post coordinated and/or funded
training programs for 1,357 counterpart police, customs, and
industry partners in Hong Kong and Macau. Post resident law
enforcement agencies with geographic jurisdiction over Taiwan
coordinated their activities through the American Institute
in Taiwan (AIT). In some instances, Post pooled resources
among the law enforcement agencies to provide comprehensive
training courses in export control, money laundering and
financial crimes. Agencies also hosted counterparts at their
respective US-based training academies, at the International
Law Enforcement Academy in Bangkok, Thailand (ILEA-Bangkok),
and successfully nominated participants to the Department's
International Visitor Program. END SUMMARY


2. (SBU) Law enforcement officers from Hong Kong and Macau
participated in executive leadership courses, crisis
management workshops and cybercrime investigation seminars
offered through Post's Legal Liaison Office (LLO). Of these,
one Hong Kong Police officer attended a three-month
leadership and management course at the National Academy (NA)
of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI),while two
others attended the FBI's two-week Law Enforcement Executive
Development Seminar (LEEDS) at Fredericksburg, Virginia.
Three Hong Kong Police officers and one Taiwan police officer
(invited via AIT) participated in the FBI's Pacific Training
Initiative (PTI) for mid-level managers held this year in
Manila. Locally, LLO held one-day crisis management
workshops for 80 law enforcement officers from Hong Kong and
50 law enforcement officers from Macau, and four-day
cybercrime investigation seminars for 25 Hong Kong police
officers. LLO also provided training to 282 Taiwan law
enforcement counterparts in NA training, crisis management,
and cybercrime investigations.


3. (SBU) The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Hong Kong
Country Office (DEA/HKCO) conducted one-day clandestine drug
lab awareness workshops for 90 Macau Judiciary Police
officers and 60 Hong Kong Police and Customs personnel.
Through AIT, DEA provided asset forfeiture training to a
total of 90 officers from Taiwan's Coast Guard, Customs, and
investigative bureaus.


4. (SBU) The Criminal Investigative Division of the U.S.
Internal Revenue Service (IRS/CID) at Post held financial
investigative seminars in Hong Kong and Macau. Three
separate seminars, funded by the State Department's
International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs Bureau
(INL),included 24 participants from Hong Kong's Independent
Commission Against Corruption (ICAC),28 Hong Kong Police
officers, and 24 members of Macau's law enforcement community.


5. (SBU) U.S. Secret Service, Hong Kong Resident Office
(USSS/HKRO) provided counterfeit currency detection training
to 100 front-line employees of Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank
(HSBC) and Bank of America (Asia) Ltd. USSS/HKRO also
offered unprecedented VIP protection training at ILEA-Bangkok
for counterparts from Asian economies, including two each
from Hong Kong, Macau, and mainland China. In Taiwan,
USSS/HKRO shared counterfeit detection techniques with 160
coast guardsmen, police, and prosecutors via AIT.


6. (SBU) Agencies at Post also teamed up for local law
enforcement capacity building. U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE) and IRS/CID, among other local and
international presenters, provided presentations to an
audience of 50 Hong Kong Police officers at a trade-based
money laundering seminar organized and hosted by the Hong
Kong Police. ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP)
conducted a four-day bulk cash smuggling workshop for 35 law
enforcement and customs officials in Macau and a three-day
bulk cash smuggling workshop for 32 customs officers in Hong
Kong. CBP, ICE, Department of Commerce Bureau of Industry
and Security (DOC/BIS),and Department of Energy (DOE)
personnel provided export control proliferation awareness

training to 56 Macau Customs and Economic Services personnel.
Coordinated by CBP in Hong Kong, DOE also conducted
additional export control workshops for the identification
and transfers of strategic commodities for Hong Kong Customs
and Trade and Industry officers.


7. (SBU) The Regional Security Office, through input from
Post's resident law enforcement agencies, nominated 59 host
government law enforcement counterparts to attend
ILEA-Bangkok training. Course topics included personnel and
facilities security, VIP protection, narcotics, crime scene
investigations, computer crimes, leadership development,
interview techniques, and counterterrorism. During FY-2009,
Post's law enforcement team also played a prominent role in
the Department's Education and Cultural Affairs Bureau (ECA)
International Visitor Program (IVP) with four law enforcement
officers from Hong Kong and one from Macau taking part in the
ECA-funded IVP.


8. (SBU) FY-2010 training courses for Hong Kong and Macau law
enforcement personnel have thus far included arson
investigations and tactical safety planning. In addition,
the Economic and Political Section, working together with
Post's ICE representatives, organized and funded
anti-trafficking in persons seminars in Hong Kong and Macau.
The seminars, taught in October by an ICE special agent and a
U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) assistant U.S. attorney,
received the participation of 50 law enforcement officers in
Hong Kong and over 100 officers in Macau.
MARUT