Assistant District Commander (Crime), Wan Chai District, Superintendent Paul Mounsey, and Superintendent Administration & Support, Crime Hong Kong Island, Superintendent Karl Spencer, who are both graduates of the FBI National Academy, recently took leave from their busy posts, and attended the 10th FBI National Academy Retraining Conference in Thailand.

Also attending the retraining conference, which was jointly hosted by the FBI and the Royal Thai Police, were 71 other graduates from 14 Asia Pacific countries, including Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, Mongolia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Nepal, India, Cambodia, East Timor, Maldives, Bangladesh, and Japan.

Many top brass were also present at this high profile retraining conference in the Asia Pacific Region. Among them were Mr Thomas Fuentes, Assistant Director of the FBI, Mr Robert Atkinson, Commissioner of Police of Queensland, General Israphan Snitwongse, Deputy Commissioner of the Royal Thai Police, and Mr Abdulla Riyaz, Deputy Commissioner of Maldives Police.

The theme of the retraining conference was "Major Threats of Transnational Crime in Asia" and lectures were given on transnational crime, human trafficking, identity fraud, terrorism, FBI operations, drugs situation in Asia, counterfeit drugs, cyber crime, and cyber forensics. The Royal Thai Police made all delegates feel very welcome and hosted a number of enjoyable social events such as dinner at the Royal Bangkok Sports Club, a buffet dinner on board a riverboat, and special tours of all of the major tourist attractions.

The retraining conference was a great success and undoubtedly strengthened the law enforcement networks in the Asia Pacific Region. The Indonesian Police and the Queensland Police have offered to host the retraining conference in Bali in 2008 and at the Gold Coast in 2009 respectively. These two superb venues should give all FBI National Academy graduates something to look forward to.

The 10th FBI NAA Asia Pacific Chapter Retraining Conference from August 26 to 30