Robert Hanser, criminal justice, recently chaired the first session of the 2006 Annual Conference for the Asian Association of Policing in Bangkok, Thailand. Police and national security administrators from 19 nations attended the conference. While in Bangkok, Hanser was a guest of the Royal Thai Police Cadet Academy and traveled with officials from Thailand and several other countries.

In addition to opening the first session, Hanser presented his manuscript entitled “Establishing Effective Police Relations with Asian American Populations in Southern Regions of the United States,” which examined the difficulties and challenges encountered by law enforcement agencies that are tasked with establishing an effective rapport with Asian American populations in the southern regions of the U.S. Hanser has been an active participant of AAPS for three years and is a member of the Editorial Board for Asian Policing, the academic journal affiliated with AAPS.

Hanser teaches Comparative Criminal Justice, which examines criminal justice systems around the globe. His excursions abroad are an invaluable asset in his classroom, he said.

“The relationships that I develop with criminal justice experts in other countries help to build my effectiveness in the classroom. In addition, the use of online technology allows my students to directly contact these experts in nations abroad and thereby connects ULM's criminal justice department with the criminal justice community throughout the world.”