Early life and education

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]

San Francisco Police

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]

Police Chief

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]

TSA

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]

Associations

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]